Ongole: Sportspersons urged to take part in Adudam Andhra

Ongole: The State government is trying to identify talented sportspersons and encourage healthy lifestyles by giving priority to sports, said Prakasam District Collector A S Dinesh Kumar.

He explained the details of Adudam Andhra, a State-level sports tournament, to be held for the first time in history and launched the logo, brochure and mascot of the same at his chamber here on Monday.

He appointed P Manoj Sai and P Sivareddy as the sports ambassadors for the district for the event and advised everyone to participate in it.

Addressing the media, the District Collector said that they were conducting competitions in cricket, volleyball, kabaddi, kho kho and badminton doubles from December 15 to February 2 in the Adudam Andhra programme. He said that any male or female sportsperson of age above 15 years can participate in the competition by registering for it.

He said that the interested can register their details by calling 1902 or visiting www.aadhudamandhra.ap.gov.in website. He announced that there are non-competitive events like the 3-km marathon, Yoga, Tennikoit, and other popular traditional games in the programme.

He said that the locals or students studying at that place are eligible to participate in the village, ward secretariat to the State-level sports events, but no person can register for more than two categories. He also informed that government employees and volunteers are not eligible to participate in the event.

The Collector said that the competition will be held at ward or village level, secretariat level from December 15, mandal level from January 2, Assembly constituency level from January 16, district level from January 22 and State level from January 29. He said that the closing ceremony of the sports event will be held grandly at Visakhapatnam on February 3. He said that the competitions held at the secretariat and mandal level are just selections, but the top three players and teams from the Assembly constituency level will receive prize money.

The Collector announced that they have arranged to organise committees for the event at various levels by involving 7,190 sport volunteers, 291 PDs and PETs in the district, along with a command and control centre at the district level. The trainee IAS, Sourya Man Patel, STEP CEO MVS Lokesh, DSA chief coach Rajarajeswari and others also participated in the

programme.