Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the main motto of organising Aadudam Andhra was not only to stress the importance of fitness, exercise and healthy living, but also to identify talent from the grassroot level, so that they can be nurtured into acclaimed sportspersons in the coming days. He also said that the mega sporting event would be organised every year.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was addressing the concluding ceremony of the Aadudam Andhra sports event which was held at Dr YSR ACA VDCA Stadium here.
He said that competitions were held in five sports – cricket, kabaddi, kho-kho, volleyball and badminton — as part of ‘Aadudam Andhra’ across the State over a period of 47 days with the participation of around 25.40 lakh sportspersons, especially youth.
As many as 3.30 lakh matches were held at the grama/ward level, 1.24 lakh at the mandal level, 7,346 at the constituency level, 1,331 at the district level, and finally 260 matches were conducted at the State level, he said.
Sports kits worth ₹37 crore were distributed, while around ₹12.21 crore was being spent to distribute gifts to all the participants.
Budding talent
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that 14 sportspersons who have shown exemplary performance in the event were being adopted by various sports franchises.
He announced that in cricket, Pawan (Vizianagaram) and K.V.M. Vishnu Vardhini (NTR district) were being adopted by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) who would train and nurture them. Similarly, Shiva (Anaparthi) and K. Gayatri (Kadapa) would be adopted by the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA).
In kabaddi, Satish (Tirupati) and Balakrishna Reddy (Bapatla) were adopted by Pro-Kabaddi, while Suman (Tirupati) and Sandhya (Vizianagaram) were being adopted by the AP Kabaddi Association. M. Satyam (Srikakulam) and Mounica (Bapatla) would be adopted by volleyball franchise Blackhawks, and K. Ram Mohan (Bapatla) and E. Hemavathi (Prakasam) by the AP Kho-Kho Association. A. Vamsikrishna Raju (Eluru) and M. Akansha (Bapatla) would be adopted and trained by the AP Badminton Association.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy distributed prizes to the winners in various sports events along with Tourism Minister R.K Roja.
Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, Health Minister V. Rajini, Uttarandhra regional coordinator Y.V. Subba Reddy and others were present.
The fireworks display and laser show organised as part of the concluding ceremony delighted the spectators drawn in large numbers from various places in the region.
