Boxers from Pondy clinch 3 Gold medals at state-level tournament

PUDUCHERRY: Young Boxers from Puducherry have brought laurels to the union territory as they participated in a recently organized boxing tournament held in West Bengal.

The boxers won three gold medals at the five-day long tournament. Apart from gold, the young boxers also won five bronze medals.

Among 2,500 participants, an 8-year-old boy Pavitharan from Puducherry triumphed as a winner. He clinched the gold medal for the third time.

The team of 22 students from Puducherry who went to West Bengal for the tournament was welcomed back warmly at the Railway station on Friday.

Upon arrival, one of the participants, Monica told ANI, "22 boxers went to participate in the tournament as part of Khelo India from the Puducherry team. We won 3 gold medals and 5 bronze medals. A total of 35 states participated in the tournament".

The Khelo India Scheme is the flagship Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. It aims at infusing sports culture and achieving sporting excellence in the country thus allowing the populace to harness the power of sports through its cross-cutting influence.

The Khelo India programme includes playfield development; community coaching development; promotion of community sports; establishment of a strong sports competition structure at both school and university level as also for rural/indigenous sports, sports for persons with disability and women sports; filling up of critical gaps in sports infrastructure, including the creation of hubs of sports excellence in select universities; talent identification and development; support to sports academies; implementation of a national physical fitness drive for school children; and sports for peace and development.