Bhubaneswar: Moving a step closer in making Bhubaneswar the sports capital of India, the state government has decided to host the 25th All India Forest Sports Meet here at various stadiums in the city.
This was decided in a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy here at Lok Seva Bhawan, Thursday.
The event would be inaugurated at Kalinga Stadium, March 3. Different sports events would be organised for five days at different stadiums like Kalinga, KIIT, Sai International School, Utkal University and Golf Course and the closing ceremony would be held March 7 at Kalinga Stadium.
Presenting details about the national event at the meeting, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Sandeep Tripathi said 45 teams from different states and Union Territories (UTs) would participate in the event.
Around 2,600 sportspersons would display their skill and around 500 local youths and staffers would assist in ensuring smooth conduct of the entire sports event, he said.
In total, the PCCF said, 23 games and 230 events would be organised during the five days. The referees would be nominated from Kalinga Stadium, Director of Sports and various recognised state-level associations.
Tripathi said there would be various field and track games including basketball, volleyball, squash, table tennis, hockey, cricket, badminton, lawn tennis, archery, power-lifting, golf, carrom, chess, bridge, billiards, rifle shooting, athletics, tug-of-war, swimming, kabaddi and other indoor games.
Giving nod to the proposal, the Chief Secretary directed the Sports and Forest & Environment departments to tie up with Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) for integrating the prestigious national event with Odisha Tourism. OTDC was directed to plan different tour packages and put it on the website for the sports persons, their fans and family members.