Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy declared open the 47-day sports festival Aadudam Andhra that would be held across the State till February 10, 2024.
As part of the inauguration, the Chief Minister handed over the ceremonial torch to the players who went round the ground amidst cheers from spectators. After releasing balloons into the air, Mr. Jagan administered an oath of sportsmanship to players and handed over sports kits to them.
Inaugurating the sports festival at the Loyola Public School grounds at Nallapadu in Guntur district on Tuesday, Mr. Jagan said that the sports festival would go down as a milestone in the history of Andhra Pradesh.
“The government is organising the sports festival with two objectives in mind. Firstly, it is meant to serve as a massive fitness exercise for the youth and help them maintain good physical health. Secondly, it would also help the government identify youth with potential so that further steps can be taken to encourage them,” the Chief Minister said.
Throughout the festival, which would be held at over 9,000 school, college, university and SAAP (Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh) playgrounds, an awareness campaign would be launched on the benefit of adopting an active physical lifestyle and taking up an outdoor sport in order to ensure good health.
The annual event would be held in December every year, and sports competitions would be held at the village, mandal, district, constituency and State-level. Players from professional teams like Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as well as from bodies like Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) have come forward to watch the cricket matches, and scout for talented youth and train and encourage them further.
International players Kidambi Srikanth and P.V. Sindhu have come forward to help identify talented youth in badminton while Prime Volleyball and Pro Kabaddi have also evinced interest in scouting for talent in their respective fields, the Chief Minister noted.
Srikanth and Sindhu are expected to launch their badminton academies for training youth in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati soon where the government has allotted them the necessary land.
Youth who show an aptitude for sports would be encouraged to participate at the national and international levels, Mr. Jagan said, adding that 34 lakh youth have signed up to participate in the sports events in all while over 1.20 crore people have registered to attend and watch the sports festival across the State.
CM tries his hand at cricket, badminton
Mr. Jagan went round the ground and interacted with the players and examined their kits. He also picked up a bat and faced some deliveries, and later played a bit of badminton with the shuttlers.
Sports and Tourism Minister R.K. Roja, SAAP Chairman B. Siddharth Reddy and other senior officials were present.
