In the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, a four-day long ‘Khelo Kashmir’ martial arts sports competition, organised by Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), commenced in Srinagar on Sunday.
The event has been organized in collaboration with local sports organisations at Indoor Sports Hall at Polo Ground in which hundreds of players are participating.
Due to government protocols, amid pandemic only three sports– Taekwondo, Karate and Kickboxing — are being played in this event.
The players participating in this event hailed this step taken by the NSNIS as it will help them to overcome the losses they suffered in sports activities.
“These types of tournaments need to take place as it would give experience to all the children. They will represent Kashmir in different tournaments. During the lockdown, we were at our homes, but now we have returned to action,” martial arts player Aimen Jan said.
The players were happy as this was the first sports event in which they took part after almost one year.
The organisers of this sports event said that they are happy with the response and the next sports event will be held at Gulmarg in the coming days.
“Stadium was closed because of coronavirus, this is the first time that an event is happening here since the stadium has been reopened. Almost 1,000 children are participating in this event. We are very happy that the event is going on. Coaches have done a remarkable job. All safety precautions have been taken care of,” another player Sabiya Mushtaq said.
Aquib Gulzar, coach-cum-referee of the event, added, “Due to lockdown everyone was at their homes. Now children are steadily approaching schools and training. In this Khelo Kashmir event, we have scheduled events in three sports.”
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