Sports league for college students on the anvil in Kerala

The Kerala government is all set to launch a sports league for college students.

To be launched by the Higher Education Department and the Sports Department, the league is aimed at nurturing a sports culture in the State and developing the necessary infrastructure in colleges. The college league will start off with football, cricket, volleyball, and kabaddi. More sports will be added in due course.

As part of this initiative, sports clubs will be launched in all colleges. The announcement was made here on Thursday by Minister for Higher Education R. Bindu and Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman.

The sports league, which will last three to six months, will start by dividing the colleges in Kerala into four zones. District-level committees will be created to coordinate the sports clubs. A State-level technical committee will be in charge of the district-level panels, the Ministers said.

There will also be a State-level governing committee with the Chief Minister as Chair, and consisting of the Ministers for Higher Education and Sports, Vice-Chancellors and officials.

There will be ‘home’ and ‘away’ competitions modelled on professional leagues. The teams for the college league will be selected by the district-level panels. The top four teams from each of the four zones will compete at the State level.

The Ministers said that the league will be designed in such a manner that the sports club will be able to generate income, enabling colleges to attain self-sufficiency in this regard. The college league will also open doors for the best sportspersons to professional leagues, they said.