In the 18th SAIL-Khel event, nearly 1500 students from 39 schools are participating
Team News Riveting
Raipur, October 24
The 18th edition of the SAIL-Khel Mela being organized jointly by Ramakrishna Mission, Narayanpur, and SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant from 23rd to 28th October 2024 was inaugurated on 24th October 2024.
Tankram Verma, Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare Department (Government of Chhattisgarh) inaugurated the SAIL-Khel Mela 2024-25 by lighting the Ceremonial Lamp in the presence of Anirban Dasgupta, Director I/c (SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant), Swami Vyapatanand Maharaj, Secretary (Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Narayanpur).
As many as 1,437 students, among which 287 are girls, from 39 residential and non-residential schools of Narayanpur district and nearby areas are participating in this six-day sports festival from 23rd to 28th October 2024. Various sports events including Football, Badminton, volleyball, Kho-Kho, Badminton, Athletics, Archery, etc., are being organized under the SAIL-Khel Mela-2024-25. Also, a total of 71 coaches are contributing to this competition by training and guiding the children.
As part of its CSR activities under the Rowghat Mines project SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant organizes this mega sports festival every year in collaboration with Ramakrishna Mission to hone the hidden sports talents in remote rural areas. It is worth mentioning that Special coaches have also been deployed for sports activities like Kho-Kho, Badminton, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Basketball, Mallakhamb and Athletics etc.
Chief Guest Tankram Verma in his address urged the participants to work hard and succeed by winning in sports, and stated that the government is committed to patronizing the sports talents of Narayanpur. The Chhattisgarh government has announced that the player who wins the gold medal in the Olympics will be given a cash prize of Rs 3 crore, the silver medalist will be given Rs 2 crore and the bronze medalist will be given a prize money of Rs 1 crore, said Tankram Verma, Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare Department (Government of Chhattisgarh).
Anirban Dasgupta, Director I/c (SAIL-BSP) thanked the Ashram management for organising this sports fair continuously for 18 years now and said that this will help in the physical and mental development of the children. Bhilai Steel Plant is always at the forefront to contribute to promoting the development of the sports sector.
Arun Kumar, Acting ED (Rowghat), Tapas Dasgupta, CGM I/c (Iron), P K Sarkar, CGM I/c (Services), Bipin Manjhi, Collector (District Narayanpur), Virendra Panchbhai, Additional Collector, Prabhat Kumar, Superintendent of Police (Narayanpur), Rupasai Salam, Narayanpur District President (BJP), Brijmohan Devangan, senior social workers and BJP members from Narayanpur Gautam Golchha, Sandeep Jha and Sanjay Nandi, Narendra Meshram, President (Janbhagidari Samiti Narayanpur), Devnath Usendi, President (District Congress, Narayanpur), Ashram Ward Councilor Smt. Pushpalata Manjhi were present on this occasion, along with Anupam Bisht, GM (Rowghat-BSP), Swami Anubhavanand, Joint Secretary (Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Narayanpur), Swami Vasudanand, Swami Krishnamritanand, Swami Muktyanand, Swami Premdanand and Brahmachari monks, teachers of the ashram, and other staff members.
It is worth mentioning that a total of 3,000 children were present in this program, including 1,508 participant children along with respective coaches, and as many as 1,100 students of the ashram.
Swami Vyapatanand Maharaj, Secretary (Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, Narayanpur) gave Welcome Address on this occasion, while the Vote of Thanks was proposed by Swami Krishnamritanand, Principal (Vivekanand Vidyapeeth).
A 1,500-meter running competition was conducted during the inaugural function, which was participated by 25 children, wherein Chinarsingh Dugga of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekanand Vidyapeeth secured the First position, while Chirassu Ram of Govt. Adarsh Vidyalay, Garaji stood at second position and Abhishek of Eklavya Vidyalay, Antagarh secured the third position respectively. The winning participants were felicitated by guests and dignitaries.
