Excelsior Sports Correspondent
KATHUA, Oct 27: 3-day Water Sports Festival, organised by Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council, culminated at Ranjit Sagar Lake Basohli, here today.
The mega festival saw the participation of more than 8000 people and sportspersons, which was inaugurated by Block Development Council Chairperson, Sushma on October 24 and concluded today wherein Retd Colonel Mahan Singh, DDC Chairman Kathua was the chief guest.
The Kathua leg of ‘Iconic Week Celebrations’ witnessed an array of activities including Rowing, Kayaking & Canoeing under water sports category on the waterfront of Ranjit Sagar Lake, besides final day matches of Volleyball and Kabaddi at Purthu Valley.
On the concluding day, the grandeur of ‘Iconic Week Festival’ scaled up as the Bollywood singer Nupur Pant performed and enthralled the audiences at jam packed Tourism Reception Centre, Basohli, whereas the concluding day started with the flagging off a Cyclothon from the iconic Atal Setu Bridge-the only cable stay bridge of North India, which passed through Basohli town and culminated at Purthu Valley-which is also known as mini Goa.
The chief guest in his address said Basohli has seen 1000 years of glorious past under the reign of Paul Dynasty where Basohli was a hub of economic and social activities and named Vishwasthali.
He further said with the coming up of Water Sports Academy in Ranjit Sagar Lake, the Basohli will once again attain new heights in the tourist landscape of the world and appreciated Council, Divisional Administration as well as District Administration for bringing water sports in Basohli.
While speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner Kathua, Rahul Yadav said that maiden Water Sports Festival under the aegis of ‘Iconic Week Celebrations’ will benefit local young players and efforts will be made to make water sports a regular calendar activity in Basohli and Secretary, J&K Sports Council, Nuzhat Gull said that the water sports infra set up at Basohli will soon emerge as a popular and dream destination for water sports lovers.
Later, the chief guest gave away prizes to winners and participants of different sports competitions. Local artists including Sohan Lal and Jamal Din of Basohli Musical Group, veteran artist Romalu Ram and his part and Simmu Thakur Group besides Rinku Mansar Wale also performed during the event. Professor Shiv Kumar Padha, historian and Rajiv Sharma, social worker and sportsperson from Basohli also graced the event.
In cycling boys category, Pawan Kumar, Muzzaffar and Nitan Kumar won top three medals respectively, while in girls Payal Devi, Akanksha & Kajal Devi secured Gold, Silver and Bronze medals respectively.
In Tug of War (men), team of High School Bhikker including Asraf Hussain, Salib Ahmed, Mohd Asif, Touseffe Ahmed, Sikander Ali and Mohd Aftab emerged winner, while team of High School Sialog including Saddam Hussain, Ram Paul, Kartar Chand, Ajay Kumar, Rahil Kumar and Dilk Raj remained runner up.
In Wushu (Taulo) event, Pawana, Pratibha, Hiranya, Praznath, Dhruvika and Kavita clinched gold medals, while in Sanda event, Chitvan, Kapish, Vinod Pal, Dhanveer, Janvi, Kannau, Udhay and Riya clinched gold medals and Aradhya, Siddhant, Krishang, Om Ballowria, Jiya, Vasudev, Anwar and Sumanyu bagged silver medals.
In Kabaddi, team of Mintu Kumar, Sohan Lal, Gourav Kumar, Ankush Kumar, Yogesh Kumar, Rohit Padwal, Mohd Suleman & Arim emerged winner while team of Vishal Singh, Daleep Kumar, Sahil Kumar, Varin Paroch, Ravinder Singh, Raheel Singh, Kanav Kumar, Maljeet Singh and Rahul Singh remained runner-up.
In Volleyball, the team of Aftab, Rinku, Rajesh, Kulbushan, Nadeem, Anil Kumar, Jagdish Kumar, Akshay Kumar, Sahil Kumar, Dharam Paul, Raval Singh and Madan Kumar stood winner while team of Sunny Kumar, Jyoti Kumar, Rakesh Kumar, Sominder Kumar, Varun Singh, Vansh Singh, Amir Singh and Ansh Singh remained runner-up.
In Water Sports (Indoor Rowing 1000 meters open men) Asif Ali, Zahid Hussain and Danish Abbas clinched top three medals respectively, while in 500 mtrs open men, Shabir Hussain, Abrar Ahmed and Mohd Ali secured top three medals respectively and in K-1 1000 mtrs men), three top medals were won by Riyaz, Amir and Arfat respectively.
In K-1 500 meters men, Suhail, Dawood & Ansar secured top three medals respectively, while in K-1 200 mtrs Suhail, Dawood Riyaz won gold, silver and bronze medals respectively and in C-11000 meters men, top three medals were won by Adil, Idrees and Shahnawaz respectively, besides in C-1 200 mtrs senior men final, Idrees won gold, Adil bagged silver and Akbar secured bronze, besides C-1 500 mtrs senior men final, the top three medals were bagged by Shahnawaz, Mohd Akbar and Saif and in Water Ski Slalom category, Zubair Ahmed, Feroz Ahmed and Sahil Abbas clinched top three medals respectively.