Three girl athletes felicitated for performance in volleyball tourney

Education Minister Rohit Thakur today felicitated athletes of Thakur Ramlal Girls Sports Hostel for their remarkable achievements at the national and international levels during a ceremony held at Thakur Ramlal Swarn Jayanti Government Senior Secondary School (Centre of Excellence) at Jubbal in Shimla district.

The minister honoured Khyati Dhanta from Jubbal, Preeti from Kotkhai and Riya from Sirmaur for their excellent performances at the ISF Under-15 World School Volleyball Championship held in China from December 4 to 13.

He said that the school was one of the oldest and most prestigious educational institutions of the region. He added that the school had now received the CBSE affiliation, which would lead to improvement in the quality of education in the coming years and would also help it in setting new benchmarks.

The minister praised the Girls Sports Hostel and said that it was an important sports training centre in the district and the trained students had shown exceptional skills and performances at the national and international levels. “At present, 55 girls are being trained in volleyball, badminton and kabaddi in the hostel. In 2025, three girls were selected for international-level competitions while 33 girls were selected for national- level competitions,” he added.

He said that the state government was determined to promote sports and was taking many significant decisions in this direction. “There are nine sports hostels in the state where athletes are being trained. This sports hostel established in 1987 has emerged as the largest sports hostel. The athletes are being trained in volleyball since Day one and in the past two years, training in kabaddi and badminton is also being provided here,” he added.

The minister said that a new hostel building had been constructed at a cost of Rs 2.27 crore and it would ensure better training facilities to the budding athletes.