Driving sports in school with the aim of taking it to everyone
The Hindu
Driving sports in school with the aim of taking it to everyone
Sports for all. That is the dream and goal of the country.
That is also a slogan and brand, as two individuals, Rishikesh Joshi and Vishwas Choksi, are quietly revolutionising grassroots sports in schools for the last eight years through their Sports For All movement.
There have been 12 championships for schools, across many disciplines, catering to all age groups in different cities.
“We will conduct 10 championships in a four-month window this year. In Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Indore, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Dehradun,” said Rishikesh, as he explained the vision and execution of taking sports to students in a big way.
Last year SFA hosted four championships, bringing school sports alive in Hyderabad, Pune and Uttarakhand.
“35% of the participants were girls, which is a very encouraging sign,” said Vishwas, a chemical engineer who did his Masters from Columbia University.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.