This journey was embarked upon to give wings to the dreams of hundreds of athletes in the hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh and supplement the vision of Honorable Prime Minister of India of making India a leader in medal tally across sport platforms.
In a quest to make this journey meaningful for sportspeople and sports lovers an Olympic Torch Run across the State was organized, followed by Himachal Pradesh State Olympic Games.
The Olympic Torch Run was held across districts from 17-22 June, 2017 starting from Shimla, Solan, Paonta Sahib, Una, Nurpur, Kangra, Joginder Nagar, Kullu, Sunder Nagar, Mandi, Bilaspur and concluding at Hamirpur.
The State Olympic Games commenced at Hamirpur post the Olympic Torch Run on 22 June and the four-day event concluded on 25 June 2017. Also, to mark the International Olympic Day, a run was held on 23 June.
To ensure widespread awareness of sports culture amongst youth, the four day event witnessed 11 sports disciplinesuch as Hockey, Athletics, Boxing, Basketball, Judo, Kabaddi, Volleyball, Wrestling, Weight Lifting, Kho-Kho and Shooting. A total of 1100 athletes across 9 districts participated.
Apart from this, 51400 students got involved with the initiative by participating in the Olympic Torch Run, Olympic Day Run and the four-day event.
The event proceedings were aired on DD Sports as a special half an hour show everyday and the opening ceremony being telecast live by MH1 News and was watched by over 70 lakh viewers on television.
The initiative received support from eminent personalities like His Excellency Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Sh. Acharya Devvrat, Hon’ble Leader of Opposition, Sh. Prem Kumar Dhumal, World renowned The Great Khali, Actor Sh. Sunil Shetty, Secretary General IOA Sh. Rajeev Mehta, Olympian Sh. Vijay Kumar, Olympian Sh. Samresh Jung marked their presence at the 4-day event.
Also, extending support in the Olympic Torch Run, National and International Athletes such as Deepak Thakur, Hockey, Kavita Thank, Kabaddi, Harmilan Kaur, Athletics, Mr Gopal, Athletics Coach, Balwinder Kaur, Basketball, Shiv Chaudhary, Boxing, Sahil, Sunder Singh, Seema and Radha Thakur, mixed martial arts, Parav Pathania, Kick Boxing, Kavita, Hockey, Chuni Lal, Skiing, etc.
