NCC Games from August 2

NEW DELHI, July 27: The second National Cadet Corps Games, to be held here at the Nehru and I G Stadium from August 2 to 5, has attracted...

NEW DELHI, July 27: The second National Cadet Corps Games, to be held here at the Nehru and I G Stadium from August 2 to 5, has attracted nearly 1,400 cadets from all over the country.

Competitions during the four-day championships will be held in athletics high jump, long jump, hop, step and jump and shot put in the field events and in track the events will be 100m, 200, 400, 800, 4215;100 and 4215;400 relays for boys and girls and 1,500m and 110 hurdles for boys only.

Football boys and volleyball girls will be played on league-cum-knockout basis with two pools of eight teams each. A non-competitive national integration run will be organised on August 10.

Lt Gen B S Malik, Director General NCC, who launched the Games last year to celebrate the golden jubilee of Independence, told newspersons here today that the main aim of the Games was to open up a vast untapped source of sports talent at the district level.

He said the closing ceremony would likely be presided over by Prime minister A B Vajpayee. It will include display of martial arts and sky diving. Defence Minister George Fernandes will declare the Games open.

Besides trophies and medals to all the winners, all participants would be given medals and certificates. The certificates would also carry logos of respective sport federations 8220;to make them more authentic,8221; Lt Gen Malik said.

Bouyed by the success of the first Games, the duration of the camp for the present Games has been raised from 12 to 20 days and one more extra event has been added, the NCC chief said.

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Underlining the achievements of the inaugural venture, he said Sahebani Oram, a student of Sports Authority of India SAI hostel and representing the Orissa directorate broke the national juniors record in the 200m run.

Manjinder Singh of Punjab, who was declared the best boy athlete, was selected for a camp for participation in a junior world meet in France this year.

Ashish Ray of West Bengal and Sikkim directorate took part in the Subroto Cup football tournament and toured Nepal last December.

Twenty cadets were picked as probables by the SAI to undergo training in prepraration for various national meets.

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Terming it a 8220;big youth movement,8221; he said the NCC not only developed the cadet8217;s personality but also helped him to get admission to universities and find better jobs.