COIMBATORE: Thousands of people at the overflowing Codissia grounds here joined the grand finale of the rural sport tournament, the 12th edition of the Isha Gramotsavam.
The women’s Devarayapuram throwball team and men’s Vellore Latheri volleyball team emerged winners at the grand finale and the women’s Gobi Muruganpudur throwball team and men’s Cuddalore Karunguzhi volleyball team were runner ups. A total of 10, 360 players forming 880 teams participated in Gramotsavam this year. To date, the Gramotsavam has reached over 42 lakh people from 4,600 villages.
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Union minister of state for Information & Broadcasting along with Dr Kiran Bedi, Governor of Puducherry and P. Nagaraj, MP, were guests of honour. They served the first ball to inaugurate the final match.
Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder, Isha Foundation said, “These 12 years of Gramotsavam have been an evolution. It has changed people’s attitudes towards caste, creed, religion and gender. The joy in playing sport is something that every human being should know. We as a nation should become a playful nation. The only reason why India has lost playfulness is because we brought poverty from one generation to another across the country.”
He said, “the Andhra Pradesh Government has invited us to take Gramotsavam there. Soon we will set Puducherry also on fire,” added Sadguru. Minister Rathore said, “Gramotsavam is an example of how communities can come together.” Speaking about his sports career, Rathore, the first sportsperson of India to win an individual silver at the Olympics, said that sports was a great lesson for his life.
“I had very few resources; I didn’t have coaches, finance, tracks and sponsors. But after I started winning, I got sponsors and resources to help me do better. Interestingly when I had all the resources I began to lose. Coaches can only show the path.”
During a media interaction session, when he was asked for his views on Abhinav Bindra, India’s lone individual Olympic gold medallist who officially announced his retirement today, Rathore said, “Abhinav has sacrificed a lot in life to come this far. I wish him all the best.”
Dr. Kiran Bedi will take the playful culture from Kovai to Puducherry. “Right now we are cleaning Puducherry, but what do we do after this? We will play. It is time to move from Swacch Bharat to Swasth Bharat. This Saturday when I go to a village in Puducherry, I will take a volleyball and a football along to play with people there.”
To revive the dying folk arts, 20 ancient folk art forms involving around 200 artists from across Tamil Nadu performed at the Gramotsavam. Isha Vidya student Karthikeyan who bagged a gold medal in archery in the Indo-Nepal youth rural games was also felicitated. For the first time in the tournament’s history, a volleyball game for the disabled, in association with the Paralympics Association of Coimbatore was organised.
