Uttarakhand Governor Dr Aziz Qureshi inaugurated the 40th Junior National Volleyball Championship (girl & boys) in Dehradun on Wednesday.
Congratulating the organisers, Dr Qureshi said that such events would give an opportunity to the sports talent in Uttarakhand. This would also boost tourism by focussing on the natural splendor of the State. Players of rural and remote areas must be encouraged and given more opportunities.
They should be trained in sports like basketball, football and volleyball so that they can compete in these sports on national and international levels. Holding the tournament here had great significance. The event would give out a message that Uttarakhand was Virbhumi and its citizens had great courage to face challenges.
The governor called upon the players to play with discipline and sportsman spirit. Mohammad Yunus, the president of Afghanistan’s Volleyball Association, was the special guest on the occasion. The governor welcomed him warmly and wished for continued friendship, love and cultural exchange between the two countries.
State sports minister Dinesh Aggarwal also addressed the gathering. Avdhesh Kumar Chaudhary, president of Uttarakhand Volleyball association, welcomed the guests and players and gave them souvenirs. The governor opened the match between Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand at Pavilion Ground and stayed for a long time to encourage the players. He took the salute at the march past and released the souvenir brought out on the occasion.
The seven day championship has been organized by Uttarakhand Volleyball Association. Besides Uttarakhand, more than 1100 players from 22 States are participating in the event. The Uttarakhand team of Para Volleyball displayed its unique courage at the event. Other dignitaries including Mayor Vinod chamoli, MlA Rajkumar, State minorities commission chariamn Narinderjit Bindra, Secretary sports Ajay Pradyot, ADC Major PPR Choudhary, ADM Harak Singh Rawat and representatives of volleyball associations of various States were present at the event.