C’garh: Bastar Olympics to showcase sports talent of surrendered Naxals

Raipur: In a first of its kind initiative, the Chhattisgarh government is going to hold a 35-day mega sports event, Bastar Olympics, from November five this year particularly to showcase the sports talent of the surrendered Naxals and tribal youths, decapitated by Maoist violence, in the Leftwing insurgency-hit region in the state.

The event is a part of the move to bring the tribal youths in Bastar in the state to join the mainstream of development, a spokesman of the state government said.

Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Saturday unveiled the mascot of the Bastar Olympics, featuring hill myna, Chhattisgarh’s state animal, and wild buffalo, Chhattisgarh’s state animal, and reviewed preparations for the sports event.

Around 1.65 lakh youths in Bastar have already registered their names for participation in the event, the spokesman said.

Special event would be organized as part of the Bastar Olympics for the surrendered Naxals and tribal youths in the region decapitated by Maoist violence to showcase their sports talent.

Eleven sports will be part of the Bastar Olympics in which both men and women can take part.

The competitions in the event will be held at three levels- block, district and division-, and the winner in the sports event would be declared the youth icons of Bastar, the spokesman said.

The sports event will help hasten the ongoing process of establishing peace in the insurgency-hit region, officials said.

Mr Sai said that the efforts by the state government in the last ten months to establish peace in Bastar have met with significant success.