Bihar Launches 'Mashal' - World's Largest Sports Talent Hunt for 50 Lakh Students
The world's largest sports talent search competition 'Mashal' has started in Bihar from today. Giving information about this, Director General cum Chief Executive Officer of Bihar State Sports Authority Ravindra Shankar said that 'Mashal' is being organized under the joint aegis of Bihar State Sports Authority, Sports Department, Education Department, SCERT, and Bihar Education Project Council. More than 50 lakh students from about 38 thousand government secondary and higher secondary schools will participate in it.
This sports talent search competition is being organized for both boys and girls in the age group category below 14 years and below 16 years. This competition is being organized at five levels in which the players selected in the competition at school level, cluster level, block level and district level will be selected for the state level competition.
The competition will be held in athletics, kabaddi, football and volleyball sports. Athletics includes running, long jump and cricket ball throw. Apart from medals and e-certificates, the winning players of different levels will also be given cash prizes worth Rs. 10 crore.
Further, Mr. Shankar said that this competition is being held in cluster level schools from 22 to 24 May. After this, the competition will be organized at the block level, then at the district level and finally at the state level.
At present, the competition is being held in about 5900 cluster level schools. 77 students from each school are participating in it.
About 16 lakh students have been enrolled from 38228 schools across Bihar, out of which battery test of about 12 lakh has been done and the rest is yet to be done.
After this competition, 77 players selected from each cluster will participate in the next level block level competition, which will be organized in 533 blocks of Bihar.
The main objective of the Torch Competition is to develop the sports culture in the state along with selecting the sports talent at an early age and prepare them as national and international level players through high level training.
