Auhona Roy Chowdhury, Pune
Haryana will be hosting the 26th All India Forest Sports Meet from March 10 to March 14 at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Panchkula (Sector 3).
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar released the ‘Logo and Mascot’ of the event, called Krish, at his residence Sant Kabir Kutir on Saturday. Around 2,500 participants comprising 43 teams from 36 states and Union territories and 7 research institutes and organizations are expected to participate in the event.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest organises the All India Forests Sports Meet annually to promote sports in the forest department. The teams are formed by appointing players to the post of Forest Guard in Group C in the Forest Department.
The logo for the event prominently displays the state animal of Haryana, Black Buck. It is a magnificent animal that finds a prominent place in our history and culture. The state map in the logo depicts that Haryana is at the forefront of sports and one of the most fast-progressing states in all fields.
The events of the meet include athletic events like race, walk, relays, hurdles, discus throw, javelin throw, hammer throw, long jump, high jump, shot put and triple jump. There are also indoor games like badminton, carom, table tennis and chess. Field games include basketball, cricket, hockey, kabaddi, volleyball and tug of war.
Apart from this, golf will be played at the Golf Club, Panchkula. Lawn tennis, bridge, snooker, billiards and squash will be played at Gymkhana Club, Panchkula. The archery competition will be held at the sports ground of Panjab University (Chandigarh) and the shooting event will be organised at the Shooting Range in Chandigarh. Further, a weight lifting competition will be held at the Government College, Panchkula.
There is going to be about 285 different sports events that will be played in open, veteran and senior veteran categories (both male and female participants). While everyone can participate in the open category, the veteran and senior veteran categories have been made especially for participants above 45 and 52 years of age respectively.
Khattar said it is a matter of pride that Haryana is the host of the 26th All India Forest Sports Meet. Prior to this, the sports meet has been successfully organized twice in Haryana; 10th meet in the year 2003 and 13th meet in 2013.