Sports lovers in Himachal Pradesh had a gala time this past week, as they attended the 18th All India Kayaking and Canoeing Water Sports championship held here for the first time.
Organised by the Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association (IKCA) at Luhanu Ghat of Gobind Sagar in Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur District, the event attracted a large number of sports lovers.
The five-day sports event (Nov.16 to 20) was intended at exploring possibilities in water sports and promoting adventure tourism in the State. 27 States and various institutional teams represented by 692 individuals including 160 females participated in the event.
Senior officials of the Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association said, Govind Sagar being one of the best locations to organise national-level water sport competitions, needed government support to develop proper infrastructure.
"This is the beginning. I always felt that this lake is a beautiful enough to encourage sports. The venue (for sports event) should be such which is easily accessible. To that extent, this is an ideal location because people can walk up here and start paddling," said Lieutenant General G.P.S. Bindra, Director of the championship.
He added that although not many locals could get enough time to practice, beginning had been made and the water sports would prosper in the State.
Gobind Sagar is a man-made reservoir situated in Bilaspur District, Himachal Pradesh.
The reservoir on the Sutlej, has been created by the huge hydel dam at Bhakra and has been named in honour of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh guru. One of the world's highest gravity dams, the Bhakra dam rises nearly 225.5 m above its lowest foundations
Meanwhile, a foreign coach to harness talent in the national team and others at various locations has bee appointed by Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association.
"In Europe we are doing Kayak races since the early 20's from the past century so we have 80 years of experience. What is being done here, according to us, is really the beginning ages of sports in Europe. We have got much better infrastructure for the sports, different training methods, scientific ways, different ways of building boats, the material and all these kind of things," said Barina Balazs, German Kayaking coach.
Local youth hope the authorities will create a better infrastructure.
"We have been provided these boats for last three days only. Earlier, there was a boat which required less balance but these boats require more balance. We don't have good coach here. We have not been given good training. We don't know how to use rudder," said Jatinder, a member of Himachal Pradesh team.
"And the children here are very poor, they can't participate in this game and they can't bear the expenses of food and coaching, so our team haven't won any medal," said Jatinder.
However, the participants from various States want to visit the Govind Sagar again.
"We felt very good to see the climate, way of living and everything here. And the competition concluded very well because of this river's depth. We didn't face any problem here," said Nayan SinghYadav, a member of Police team.
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking is different from canoeing. A kayak has a closed cockpit and a canoe has an open cockpit. They also use a two bladed paddle.
Canoeing is the activity of paddling a canoe for the purpose of recreation (also called a float trip), sport, or transportation. It usually refers exclusively to using a paddle to propel a canoe with only human muscle power.
The championship that concluded this Monday (Nov.20) saw the Services team emerging winners in the men's section while, in the women category, Kerala eves bagged the gold medal.
Source:ANI
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