A festive atmosphere prevailed at the Police Stadium here on Tuesday as hundreds of policemen from different ranges in Andhra Pradesh converged on the eve of the 47 AP State Police Sports and Games Meet, scheduled to commence on Wednesday.
The bonhomie among the participants cannot be missed as they freely mingled with one another.
Most of them were in their tracksuits and the name of the district or the range they represented was written on them. The colour of their tracksuits was different for different districts.
Additional Director General (Sports) Rajiv Trivedi went round the different venues overseeing the arrangements, while Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) Mohamed Khan (Visakhapatnam city) was seen coordinating with the officials at the stadium.
Peaceful place“We came here about a decade ago. Vizag is a calm and peaceful place and the people are known for their hospitality. We have no differences with anyone,” Mohd. Ashwaq, a hockey player from Warangal, said.
“We are happy to be here to participate in the State-level sports meet in Vizag,” said Ravi, who had represented Warangal at the State-level in the judo championships in the past.
“I have been to Simhachalam temple during my last visit,” he told this reporter and asked: “What are the other temples and tourist places in Visakhapatnam?”
“It’s great that Vizag has been chosen to host the big event. Though we come from different regions, we belong to a single family – police family – and we have no differences,” said two participants from Kurnool, who preferred anonymity.
“Sportspersons have no regional differences and the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie can be seen in the participants, who hail from different regions of the State. We do not have any differences,” said Ch. Vivekananda, who represents the AP Police Officers’ Association. He is in-charge of the cultural events to be organised on March 14.
Special attraction“The beach is a special attraction for the participants from Anantapur, Kurnool, and Telangana, which are landlocked regions. It was initially thought that the sports meet would be cancelled in view of the election code. We are lucky that no such thing happened,” said D. Koteswara Rao, a Deputy Superintendent of Police in the Intelligence Security wing in Hyderabad, who hails from Visakhapatnam. He was coordinating the athletic events.
Bifurcation of the State notwithstanding, the participants of various regions seemed excited to participate in, perhaps, the last major sporting event in combined Andhra Pradesh for the Police Department.