Rajkot: Siddis, a African person who lives in the Gir Somnath district for generations, will now be trained to become a champion of sports by Gujarat (SAG).
Coach SAg has chosen 48 men and 38 women from the community after talent exploring a trip to different villages.
Siddis settled in several parts of Gujarat and Karnataka before independence.
The community has a population of around 12,000 in Gujarat.
When Siddis has a strong body and is known because genetically strong, the quality must be for upper athletes, the state government has decided to train them in various sports.
L PARIYA, Head of SAG coach, Kanji Bhaliya, Senior Corresponde Somnath and Manish Jiladiya District, Porbandar District coach, chose a candidate after a broad talent scouting process.
Trio visits 20 villages such as Lambur, Sirvan, Rasulpura, Madhupur, Chitravad, Moruka, Jatapur, Javartri of Talala Taluka which has a significant population of Siddis.
“This project is the idea of SAG Director General C V.
while watching the Tokyo Olympics, he thinks that if it is properly maintained, Siddis can excel in various sports,” said Bhaliya.
The state government is targeting to get a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics through this youth.
A 30 committee traveled in these villages for 25 days to see sports talents.
The Committee was accompanied by former National Champion Athletes Yunus Raika and Hanifa Majgul, who were also Siddis.
A similar project was launched by the Union Sport Ministry in 1985.
The project is named, a special area game, aimed at finding a talented siddi youth in Gujarat and Karnataka and train them.
‘N-Word’ mentioned twice in Govt releasing N-Word, an ethnic slur that is avoided throughout the world because it becomes racist, used twice in a press release issued by the State Government Information Department.
N-Word is used in a press release issued for media that informs about Siddis training, African people, in various sports.
Worldwide N-Word is considered insulting the community because it shows racial discrimination.
In the search for Oly Medal, Siddis was trained by SAG
