With an aim to rejuvenate the spirit of rural India and foster a sense of community, tradition, and healthy competition, Isha Outreach, the social development arm of Isha Foundation, will organise the 15th edition of Isha Gramotsavam, from August to September 23rd. Isha Gramtosavam is India’s biggest sporting event and will be conducted across the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Pondicherry. The grand finale will be played in front of 112-feet Adiyogi at Isha Yoga Center, Coimbatore.
The unique aspect of Isha Gramotsavam is that all players in the team are from the same village. This is not a tournament for professional players but is a platform which encourages everyone to play. From encouraging everyone to take up some form of a game to bringing back the fun of rural games and reviving dying traditional art forms, the whole initiative is carefully crafted so that the entire village comes together as a celebration and brings back the zest of rural life.
The grand rural sports festival will witness more than 60,000 rural people from more than 25,000 villages turning up to compete as athletes. The players stand a chance to win from a pool of prize money worth 55 lakhs. Matches kick start in Tamil Nadu from August 12 and anyone above the age of 14 is eligible to participate. The last day to register for the sports festival is August 12.
Launched in 2004 by Sadhguru, Founder- Isha Foundation, says, “Of the many dimensions of activities that Isha has undertaken, Isha Gramotsavam stands out as a major movement to revitalise rural India through sports. Discrimination of caste, creed, and gender has been broken through this movement. Many youth have overcome their addictions. Isha Gramotsavam as an event has grown quite phenomenally in its size. We want to take this movement of revitalizing and transforming rural India through sport to greater heights. I would like to request all of you to participate in whatever way you can to make Gramotsavam reach many more people.”
This year’s edition of Gramotsavam will feature Volleyball for Men, Throwball for Women, and rural games with Tamil Nadu additionally featuring Kabaddi for Men & Women. The winners in Volleyball and Throwball will receive Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively. Men’s and women’s teams winning Kabaddi will take away prizes of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively. Apart from this, prize money and certificates will also be given to the winning teams in the club and divisional-level competitions. Spicing up things for the audience who are not part of any team, they will have an opportunity to compete in traditional sports competitions.
The past editions of Isha Gramotsavam have witnessed 8,412 teams, comprising 1,00,167 players participating in Isha Gramotsavam. Isha Outreach has been recognized as National Sports Promotion Organization ( NSPO ) by the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs. In the year 2018, Isha Outreach received the “Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar” award from the Hon’ble President of India for Sports Development. Sports celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar, Olympic medallist Rajavardhan Singh Rathore and Karnam Malleshwari have earlier participated as special guests in the finals of the sports festival. Mithali Raj, PV Sindhu, Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan have voiced support for Isha Gramotsavam.
To register for Isha Gramotsavam, please visit: https://isha.co/gramotsavam-tamil
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