Inter-school contests to make a comeback this July

Deepankar Sharda

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Chandigarh, May 20

After a gap of over two years, the UT Education Department is all set to conduct inter-school championships starting this July.

Highly placed sources confirmed that the department has already drafted its sports calendar for this season and the final approval will be sought from the Secretary, Education Department, to start conducting the championships from the last week of July month.

Sources also confirmed that no addition has been made to the existing list of disciplines. Events, which have been conducted in the past, will be conducted on a similar pattern. However, the department will try to conduct events in a more professional manner. Recently, the UT Sports Department announced its annual sports calendar.

“If all goes well, the events will start from the last week of July. We are also discussing our draft plan with the UT Sports Department in order to avoid any clash of tournaments. Our calendar will end in January next year. We are eyeing for covering all events, this year,” said a highly placed official.

During the events, the department will also shortlist teams for participating in the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) nationals.

“It’s an annual feature and teams will be selected to represent Chandigarh in the SGFI nationals. However, the department is thinking of changing the criteria and conducting trials for a minimum of three days,” a source said.

The inter-school championships were last held in 2019 and the championships for sessions 2019-20 and 2020-21 were not conducted in the recent past despite the MHA’s relaxation for hosting sports events, following Covid-appropriate behaviour, issued across the nation.

While the authorities blamed the pandemic for not holding the events, physical education instructors (teachers) appointed at government schools claimed that non-contact games could have been conducted.

“This is good news for all local schools. Inter-school tournaments are one of the major competitions organised under the banner of the UT Administration and, this year, it will be interesting to see how the department conducts it,” said Anu, a local coach.