Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan today deliberated upon honing the sporting skills of school children with the President of School Games Federation of India (SGFI).

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Youth Services & Sports, Alok Kumar; Administrative Secretary School Education, BK Singh; DG YSS, Dr Saleem ur Rehman, Secretary Sports Council, Nuzhat Gul and other officers and representatives of the Youth Services and SGFI respectively.
The Advisor asked the President SGFI to look for the ways and means of establishing Wrestling and Boxing academies in the twin divisions of Jammu and Kashmir. He maintained that J&K has raised enough infrastructure during the past few years along the length and breadth of UT that has enabled it to establish sports training facilities anywhere. He asked them that these sports are popular here and world class players could be produced with little handholding in such games.
He asked the Federation that the local government would extend all the help to it for the same. The Advisor even invited the SGFI for organising National and Zonal level winter games events here as J&K has all the infrastructure and manpower available for such sporting activities.
Khan advised that for players participating from outside the requisite training and preparatory schedules should also be framed. He maintained that J&K has the best of infrastructure and coaches available for winter sports and successfully conducted the ‘Khelo India Winter Games' at Gulmarg recently.
Advisor Khan mentioned that J&K is already on the path of establishing the world class residential sports academies of Football and Hockey where the students would be provided best sports coaching and facilities besides education from renowned schools. He gave out that around 30 students each year would be given admission in these residential sports academies and support extended till they reaches the 12th standard.
The Advisor said that schools are the breeding grounds of talent and we have to identify it and catch them young to support them for better. He propounded that tournaments at panchayat or tehsil level would be organised to select district level teams out of which division level and UT level teams would be scouted. These players would be admitted in these academies to make international and national players out of them.
Advisor Khan urged the School Education Department to explore for rolling out of a sports scholarship on the analogy of merit scholarships so that students having extraordinary talent in different sports arenas are encouraged and helped. He said that it would help in arresting the drop out rate besides making this talent pool not to go waste.
The Federation and the departments assured the Advisor that the necessary steps would be taken to identify and encourage the raw talent in the schools besides steps would be taken earnestly in establishing of these academies here in J&K.