Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
A sports festival for students of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation schools was held at the Divisional Sports Complex on Friday to mark Marathi Rajbhasha Day.
The festival was inaugurated by Mayor Sameer Rajurkar, with hockey legend and Padma Shri awardee Dhanraj Pillay as the chief guest. Also present on the dais were Municipal Commissioner G. Sreekanth, Deputy Director of Sports Shekhar Patil, Deputy Commissioner Ankush Pandhare, District Sports Officer Bajirao Desai, Olympic Association President Pankaj Barsakhle and Secretary Uday Dongre.
The mayor highlighted that the municipal corporation’s responsibilities extend beyond roads, drainage and street lighting. He added that civic schools have improved significantly, providing quality education, and students are actively participating and excelling in various activities as evident from the successful organisation of the sports festival.
While guiding the students, Dhanraj Pillay assured that he would dedicate time to coaching hockey for students of civic schools. He also praised the Municipal Corporation administration for organising the festival.
The festival featured eight sports: cricket, kho-kho, kabaddi, dodgeball, 100-metre sprint, tug of war, skipping rope and shot put. Preliminary competitions were held at the school level during the first week of February.
Around 2,000 students participated in the festival, which was planned under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner Ankush Pandhare and Department Head Vijay Patil. The organising team included Sports Officer Sanjeev Balya, Education Officer Bharat Tingote, Programme Officer Dnyandev Sangale, and Sports Coach Sagar Magre. Also present were Superintendent Govind Barabote, Extension Officer Ramnath Thore, central school headmasters Sanjeev Sonar, Raisa Ayub Khan, Sangeeta Tajwe, Shaikh Ahmed Patel, Vijay Kolhe, Sampat Idhate, Jagannath Sapkal and Santosh Tapkire, along with headmasters and teachers from various municipal schools.