District-wise Tour of CIFA- Thums Up Rural
Games kicks off at Srikakulam
Srikakulam Additional Superintendent
of Police, D K Mishra IPS, inaugurated the Rural Extravaganza
Srikakulam, May 21: The sleepy town of Srikakulam wore
a festive look with hundreds of farmers and their families
cheering up various teams participating in games like
Kabbadi after the Additional Superintendent of
Police, D K Mishra IPS, inaugurated the State's first
meet of the CIFA-Thums Up Rural Games 2007 at the Kodi
Rama Murthy Stadium here today.
Declaring open the meet with a friendly Kabbadi match
Mr D K Mishra IPS said, “Srikakulam meet of CIFA-Thums
Up Rural Game is one of the best examples of public-private
partnership to benefit the communities. Police Department
has joined hands with CIFA and Hindustan Coca-Cola with
the aim of bringing rural communities under one banner
and to keep their rural spirit up through sporting activities.”
With the inauguration, curtains rose on the district-wise
tour of the CIFA-Thums Up Rural Games 2007 organized
by Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA) and
Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages. After successfully completing
the meet at Srikakulam, the meet will move over to 19
venues in 14 districts over the next two weeks with thousands
of farmers participating in rural sporting games like
Kabbadi, Sack Carrying Race, etc.
With the aim of offering the villagers healthy benefits,
the organizers have also brought in Indian Red Cross
to conduct a health and medical camp at the venue. A
six-member medical team with three doctors is camping
at the site offering free medical check up and advices
to the people who participate and witness various sporting
activities.
The meet will see hundreds of players participating
in Kabbadi, Sack carrying race in Men’s category
and Rangoli and Short-distance races in Women’s
category. The Kabaddi winners will get a cash prize of
Rs 5000 and a trophy, and the runner-up will get Rs 2500
as cash prize. Winner of Sack carrying race will get
Rs 3000 as prize money and the runner-up will go home
with Rs 2000 cash prize.
Similarly, in women’s category, winner of the
Rangoli contest will get a cash prize of Rs 1000 and
runner-up will get Rs 500. Winner of the relay running
competition will bag Rs 2000 and runner-up team will
get Rs 1500 as cash
prize.
Winners of the district-level competitions will also
move to vie for the top honours at the State level scheduled
for the first week of June.
Bringing a carnival atmosphere to the Games, organizers
are offering a cultural evening to the villagers with
local participants tuning to popular songs and offering
a feast of mimicry and dance in front of large crowd
of farmers and their families.
The CIFA-Thums Up Rural Games is being organized with
the objectives to channelize energies of youth towards
constructive activities and to strengthen the social
cohesiveness for sustainable development in villages.
It is also aimed at inculcating interest in sports among
rural youth and help spot hidden talent among them, besides
instilling pride of achievement amongst the rural folk.