Umerkote, 25th Oct 2025: The 69th State-Level Inter-School Badminton and Sepak Takraw Tournament was inaugurated at Biju Patnaik Stadium, Umerkote. The event was organized under the chairmanship of Nabarangpur District Collector Shri Maheshwar Swain.
The Chief Guest, Cabinet Minister of School and Mass Education Department, Shri Nityananda Gond, officially inaugurated the sports festival. Distinguished Guests included Nabarangpur MLA Shri Gauri Shankar Majhi, Jharigaon MLA Shri Narasingha Bhatra, and Umerkote Block Chairperson Smt. Sushila Majhi.
Among other honoured guests were Superintendent of Police Shri M.S. Sampat, Additional District Magistrate Shri Tapan Khuntia, District Education Officer Shri Chhatrapati Sahu, Additional DEO Shri Prakash Hash Mahalik, Umerkote Group Education Officer Shri Ishwar Chandra Majhi, Assistant Physical Education Director Shri Jyoti Prasad Parita, and District Physical Education Officer Shri Prabhat Pattnaik.
DEO Shri Sahu delivered the welcome address and introduced the guests. The Chief Guest, Shri Gond, hoisted the sports flag and formally declared the sports festival open.
In his keynote address, Minister Nityananda Gond emphasized that sports play a vital role in the holistic development of students and contribute significantly to nation-building.
This grand sports event, described as a “Kumbh of Sports,” features participation from over 700 boys and girls below the ages of 14 and 17, representing different districts across the state.
Observers Shri Khoda Kumar Pattnaik and Shri Birendra Padhi were also present. Headmaster Asim Kumar Biswas of the Girls’ High School proposed the vote of thanks.
The festival will continue until October 19, with the closing ceremony scheduled for the same day.
The programme was efficiently anchored by Engineer Chandana Mallik, Vice-Chairperson of “Gdaha Help Line” and Women’s Coordinator of the District Sports Association, along with Niranjan Satapathy.
The entire event was successfully organized with the active cooperation of all Group Education Officers, physical education teachers, District Science Inspector Chitta Ranjan Pattnaik, Manoranjan Praharaj, Bibhashish Dey, and all CRCCs, headmasters, and teachers of Umerkote Block including Prafulla Raut, Bansidhar Bhuyan, Naresh Chandra Pattnaik, Tripati Pattnaik, Sunil Nayak, M. China, Pradeep Biswas, Kishore Seal, and Brajabandhu Kandi.
To ensure smooth execution of the event, the local Tahsildar and Additional Tahsildar were assigned Magisterial duties, while the Police Department deployed adequate security arrangements. The Health Department and Fire Services Department also extended their full cooperation throughout the programme.
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