33rd Jarkhar Sports Festival kicks off on December 13

Our Sports Correspondent

Ludhiana, December 11

The stage is set for the 33rd Jarkhar Sports Festival, scheduled to be held from December 13 to 15 at Jarkhar village on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road, about 15 km from here.

While addressing a press conference here today, Narinder Pal Singh Sidhu and Jagroop Singh Jarkhar, chairman and chief organiser, Mata Sahib Kaur Sports Charitable Trust, respectively, said all the arrangements were in place for this year’s festival, popularly known as the Modern Rural Mini Olympics.

“The festival is being sponsored by Coca Cola, Avon Cycles, Bank of India, SPS Hospitals and Tata Steels Limited, besides NRIs of the region,” they added.

“A number of star kabaddi and hockey players will be seen in action during this sports event. Competition in kabaddi for the All Open Naib Singh Grewal Memorial Cup will be held in which two overseas teams, including New Zealand and Punjab Sports Club of Seattle, besides the SGPC and five other top outfits of the region will be the main attraction,” they said.

“Similarly, major hockey teams namely Northern Railways (Delhi), Income Tax XI of Delhi, Sonepat Hockey Centre, Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, and others in the girls’ section will be vying for the Mohinder Partap Singh Grewal Gold Cup. Whereas in the men’s section, teams such as PSEB, Patiala, Sikh Regiment, PHL XI, Railways and Services along with dozen other teams will battle it out for the top honours,” they added.

“Besides, competition in kabaddi (one village) for the Dharam Singh Jarkhar Memorial Cup, volleyball (shooting) for the Amarjit Singh Grewal Cup, hockey senior girls’ seven-a-side, basketball and wrestling will also be organised during the festival,” they said.

“Teams in the girls’ hockey competition will be awarded cash prize worth Rs 2 lakh by the Mohinder Partpa Grewal Charitable Trust and Avon Cycles will give 100 bicycles to the winners in different games,” they added.

“The winners in the All Open Kabaddi Competition will be given cash prize of Rs 1 lakh by Iqbal Singh Grewal and Jaspal Singh Grewal from Manila while the runners-up team will receive cash prize of Rs 75,000 from Kuljeet Singh Bath,” they said.

“Likewise, the winning team in the kabaddi competition (one village) will get cash prize of Rs 31,000 and the losing finalists will pocket cash prize of Rs 21,000,” they added.

Punjab Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu will declare the festival open on December 13 while Punjab Chief Minister’s political secretary Sandeep Sandhu will preside over the function.

Punjab Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi will be the chief guest at the prize distribution function on December 15. The Ludhiana Commissioner of Police, Rakesh Agrawal, HS Bhullar, Jagdeep Singh Sidhu and Olympians will also be present at the venue on the final day of the festival. Popular Punjabi singer Karan Aujla will perform on December 15.