Patiala, January 6 - Tournaments of the 67th National School Games 2023-24 are being organized in various districts of Punjab. Punjab Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education and Research Minister Dr. Balbir Singh has said that the Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has created a sports culture in the state.
  Under which, during the last two years, by conducting "Khedan Watan Punjabi" sportsmen up to the village level have been given an opportunity to show their talent. At the same time, opening of sports nurseries across the state has also been started to improve children's sports. He made this statement at the opening ceremony of the Under-19 basketball boys' competition of the 67th National School Games 2023-24 here today.
Welcoming the 30 basketball teams from all over the country to Punjab, Dr. Balbir Singh said that it is a matter of pride for the state that these games are going to be held for the first time on the ground of government schools in Punjab. Congratulating the players, he said that while the players in Punjab are given prizes of crores for winning international level competitions, the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Maan has also given lakhs to the players for the preparation of the competitions. The amount is being provided So that the players can go to the competition with full preparation. Himanshu Shukla, the tournament observer who arrived from the School Games Federation of India, told more about this
That adequate arrangements have been made by the District Education Officer Secondary Education under the guidance of School Education Department Punjab for the accommodation, food and tournament matches of 360 players and their officials including about 400 members. He encouraged all the players to play with sportsmanship. The first match of the tournament was played between the teams of Punjab and Gujarat in which the Punjab team showed a great game and defeated Gujarat by a huge margin of points and opened the account by getting the first win in the tournament.
Apart from others, Ismat Vijay Singh SDM Patiala, Dr Archana Mahajan District Education Officer Elementary Education Patiala and Dr Ravinderpal Singh Sub District Education Officer Secondary Education Patiala were also present on this occasion.