Thiruvananthapuram  :

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said the success of Kerala athletes in the 35th National Games has proved that they can scale great heights with confidence and hard work.

Chandy was speaking at the valedictory function of the 9th College Games 2015 held at the Sports-Authority of India – Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education (SAI-LNCPE) in Kariavattom.

“Kerala is adopting all possible measures to help its sportspersons to train and perform. In the last four year, the state government has spent around Rs 18 crore on complimentary prizes for athletes and around 300 athletes have been recruited under the sports quota to government services,” he said.

“We are in the final stages of giving jobs to another 150 athletes who made Kerala proud in the last National Games,” he said. “The National Games was a huge challenge organisation-wise as well as sporting-wise and we have proved ourselves,” he said. Chandy congratulated the Kerala State Sports Council and participants of the College Games  for the success of the three-day event. “I hope all the athletes will be able to come up to expectations,” he said.

Sports Council president Padmini Thomas said  the quality of the Games has increased this year with the sheer number of new meet records set. “I am happy that plenty of those records were broken by trainees from the Council’s college hostels,” she said.

The Chief Minister distributed prizes to the winners of the College Games, including to the overall winners Assumption College, Changanassery, who defended their Games title. Assumption were also champions in the women’s section while St Thomas College, Pala, took the honour in the men’s division. The closing ceremony also featured a band display from students of Sainik School, Kazhakootam and a march-past by the participating teams.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Express News Service / September 12th, 2015