Raipur [India], September 30 (HornbillTV): Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, the State Government has decided to organize Chhattisgarhia Olympics 2022-2023, to promote traditional sports activities in rural and urban areas, to provide a platform to the sports talent, to create awareness towards sports and to inculctae the spirit of sportsmanship among people.

The Sports and Youth Welfare Department has finalized the entire action plan and issued it on 23 September 2022. The Panchayat and Rural Development and Urban Administration and Development Department have been entrusted with the responsibility to organize Chhattisgarhia Olympics in six different levels.

The Chhattisgarhia Olympics will commence from Rajiv Yuva Mitan Club-level on 6 October 2022, and after the competitions in 6 different levels, the event would come to a close on 6 January 2023.

The Panchayat and Rural Development Department has been appointed as the nodal agency for organizing the competitions in rural areas and Urban Administration and Development Department has been made the nodal agency for organizing competitions in the urban areas.

According to the guidelines and action plan issued regarding Chhattisgarhia Olympics, the competitions in traditional sports of Chhattisgarh will be held in two categories i.e. group and single. 14 types of traditional sports have been included under Chhattisgarhia Olympics 2022-23, which includes Gilli Danda, Pitthool, Sankhali, Langdi Daud, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, and Banti (Kancha) for group category, and Billas, Fugdi, Gedi Daud, Bhanwara, 100 meter run and long jump for single category.

Chhattisgarhia Olympics will be organized in six different levels, starting with the sports competitions in Rajiv Yuva Mitan Clubs at the rural and the urban level through the knockout method. The second is the zonal-level, under which 8 Rajiv Yuva Mitan clubs will combine to make a single club. Then at the third level, sports competition will be organized at development block / urban cluster level, then district-level, then division-level and lastly the state-level sports competitions will be organized.

At first, Rajiv Yuva Mitan Club-level event under Chhattisgarhia Olympics will be held from October 6 to October 11, 2022. Thereafter, the zonal competitions will be held from October 15 to October 20, 2022. Competitions at the block-level will be organized from October 27 to November 10. Competitions will be held at district level from November 17 to November 26. The divisional level sports competitions will be held from December 5 to December 14. And lastly, the final state-level competitions under Chhattisgarhia Olympics will be organized from 28 December 2022 to 6 January 2023.

People of three different age-groups can participate in the Chhattisgarhia Olympics i.e. age upto 18 years, then 18-40 years, and those above 40 years of age. The competition will be organized separately for male and female categories.

Separate organizing committees will be set up for the competitions of the Rajiv Yuva Mitan club level, the zone level and the block/urban cluster level. The order for the formation of the committee will be issued by the department concerned. At the same time, the order regarding formation of the organizing committee at district level and divisional level will be issued by the District Collector and the Divisional Commissioner respectively. In the final phase, a coordination committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary and a state level organizing committee under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development Department will be constituted.

The main responsibility of the organizing committee is to encourage the sportspersons to register and participate in the event, and also to promote the traditional games. In addition, the organizing committee will also be responsible for selection of judges/referees along with the arrangements for organizing games at each level. All orders/instructions/correspondence regarding the arrangement of the event will be issued by the Member Secretary.