Jaipur, Now the Rajiv Gandhi Rural and Urban Olympic Games will be organised from July 10. The registration date has been extended till June 23.
Sports department secretary Naresh Kumar Thakral said that the decision to change the date has been taken keeping in view the necessary facts. He said that the summer vacation of the government schools under the education department is on till June 26 and after reopening of schools, there will be new enrolment for around one week. In these games, 60% of the participation is of the school students.
The state government and participants are enthusiastically preparing to take part in Rajiv Gandhi Rural and Urban Olympic Games and around 54.71 lakh people have registered themselves. This number will further increase with extending the registration date to June 23. Such a huge number is a world record in itself.
It is to be mentioned that around 42.28 lakh people including 23.80 lakh males and 18.48 lakh females have registered to take part in Rural Olympic games, while 12.43 lakh people including 7.71 lakh males and 4.72 lakh females have registered for Urban Olympic Games. The participants are being provided the facility to editing, in which the registered participants can change their game or category.
Seven games will be organised in Rural Olympic Games including kabbadi, tennis ball cricket, tug of war, kho-kho, volleyball, football and shooting ball. In Urban Olympic Games, tennis ball cricket, athletics (100 metres), athletics (200 metres), kabbadi, kho-kho, volleyball, football and basketball.
Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympic Games were organised in Rajasthan for the first time on August 29, 2022 for which a budget provision of Rs 40 crore was made. This year, the budget for Rural and Urban Olympic Games is Rs 130 crore. Inaugurating the Rural Olympics, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had announced to organise Urban Olympic Games from 2023 on the lines of Rural Olympics. The objective of the event was to identify rural sportspersons, hone their talents, encourage them and promote sportsmanship among the general public. As it was open to all age groups, about 30 lakh players including 10 lakh women took part in these games and more than 2.21 lakh teams were formed. Players were from all the age group from children to elderly people.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had said that if talented players of the state are identified and given proper training, they can bring laurels to the country and the state at national and international level. He said, “We dreamt of ‘Nirogi Rajasthan’ (Healthy Rajasthan) which is getting materialised at the playgrounds. People are getting physically, mentally and socially strengthened through sports.”
The Chief Minister said that sports grounds have been prepared by the State Government at Gram Panchayat level for the event. All kinds of facilities are being made available to players and a new sports culture is being created in the state. The Rural Olympics were organised at the level of gram panchayat, then block level, then district level and at the state level.
The State Government has hiked the incentive amount given to players who have won medals at national and international level including Olympics, Commonwealth, Asiad. A gold medallist is now being given Rs 3 crore, silver medallist Rs. 2 crore and bronze medallist Rs. 1 crore. Apart from this, the prize money of Rs 30 lakh, 20 lakh and 10 lakh for winning gold, silver and bronze medals in Asian and Commonwealth Games has been hiked to Rs 1 crore, 60 lakh and 30 lakh, respectively. He said that 229 outstanding players have been given government jobs under out-of-turn policy. Apart from this, pension scheme has also been implemented for coaches. A provision of 2 per cent reservation has been made for sportspersons in government jobs. This has secured the future of players and coaches.
The State Government has taken major decisions to strengthen the sports infrastructure in the State. Under the Major Dhyan Chand scheme, a sports stadium is being constructed in each block in phased manner. Residential Para Sports Academy is being constructed in Jaipur and Jodhpur for para players, High Performance Sports Training and Rehabilitation Centers have been established in Jaipur and Jodhpur. Para Academy is going to be set up for differently abled players in Jodhpur and Jaipur. A world-class stadium has been constructed in Bikaner. Efforts are being made to extend excellent sports facilities up to the gram panchayat level.
