Vice President praises Panjab University for winning coveted trophy, calls for revival of sporting culture

Delivering a congratulatory address to Panjab University for winning the coveted Maulana Abul Kalam Azad trophy for the top performing University in sports for a second time in a row for the year 2020, the Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu stressed the need for schools and other educational institutions to actively promote sports and games.

He called for urgent revival of sporting culture in India. He said that games and Sports or Yoga or any physical activity must become integral to people’s daily routine for good health and a stress-free life.

Naidu advised Panjab University authorities not to use the abbreviated form while referring to the trophy, but to always mention as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad trophy.

Students should spend half of their time in classrooms and remaining half in the field. By field, I mean sports ground, agriculture field as well as social field, he added.

Observing that excellence in sporting will come by relentless hard work, planning and determination, he lauded the coaches, management, staff and students of the Panjab University for achieving sporting excellence along with academic brilliance.

Expressing concern over the rising incidence of lifestyle diseases in our country, especially among the youth, the Vice President said that it is of paramount importance to make our youngsters aware of the dangers of unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle.

He lauded the “Fit India campaign” initiated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that it would definitely encourage people to stay fit and healthy.

Shri Naidu said that sports and games form a crucial part of our lives and they improve our physical fitness, improve our cognitive abilities and in the case of team games, enhance our social skills. Asserting that sports and games help in developing an attitude of equanimity, he said that this balance is essential to accept failures and setbacks without any sense of bitterness, ill-will or grudge.

Stressing the need to identify sporting talent from a young age, he called for the creation of an effective and comprehensive talent monitoring and scouting systems to achieve this objective.

Highlighting the need to upgrade sporting infrastructure in the country, especially in rural areas, Shri Naidu also called for creating a large pool of home grown, highly skilled Indian coaches. Coaches play an important role, he added.

Urging more colleges and universities to offer degrees and diplomas in sports management, he also wanted the creation of a pool of highly skilled sports medicine experts and practitioners to improve the performance of our sportspersons.

He underscored the importance of investing more resources in areas in which India has competitive advantage. Terming sportspersons as our national pride, he expressed confidence that with diligent hard work, India will go on to win many more accolades in international sporting events. “We have no dearth of talent in this country. What we need is stronger support systems”, he observed.

Panjab University’s Vice Chancellor, Shri Raj Kumar, Director of Sports, Coaches and Awardees were present.