KOCHI: After nursing football’s grassroots to a healthy green, Nita Ambani is looking at athletics in a big way.
Nita, the chairperson of the Reliance Foundation Youth Sports (RFYS) which is into junior football in a big way, said the RFYS will start a similar competition in athletics shortly.
“Last year, we reached out to 1,900 institutions for the RFYS football, this year our aim is to touch 3,000 institutions which means more children will be playing sports,” said Nita after opening the second edition of the RFYS National football competition at the Rajagiri School ground here on Wednesday.
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“This year itself, we will be starting a similar athletics competition in eight cities around the country.”
The athletics competition will be held in 11 disciplines and Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kozhikode, Kolkata and Guwahati are among the cities which will host the event. It is likely to start by the end of September.
With the Kerala Blasters picking Ajith Sivan, a RFYS find, from the players draft for the ISL, the football competition for school and colleges which will be held in 30 cities across the country this year, has received a big boost.
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“We are confident that we will help discover many more Ajith Sivans,” said Nita, also a member of the IOC, after handing over the Kerala Blasters jersey to the 20-year-old.
A preliminary round match of the RFYS between host Rajagiri School and Assisi Vidyaniketan was also played in front of loudly-cheering children. The main phase will begin late next month.