Sri Panchayati Nirmal Akhada based at Kankhal hosted three–day Aain ball contest which concluded on Friday. The winning team members would now go for the international tournament slated in Morocco in North Africa in February next. In all, 12 teams comprising 150 players from across the country have participated in the championship.

The Aain ball tournament is being held for the past five years in India and Haridwar has hosted the championship for the first time.

The game had originated in Morocco city in North Africa. The tournament was jointly organised by Panchayati Nirmal Akhada, Aain Ball Federation of India and YOTI Foundation of Delhi.

The General Secretary of Aain Ball Federation of India Sayed Wasim said that the game has gained a fair measure of popularity in the recent years across India. “It is fast catching the fancy of the youth in India.

The coming days may find much wider participation in such competitions,” he added.

Presiding over the function as the chief guest, Sri Mahant of Nirmal Akhada Gyandev Singh said that Guru Arjan Dev of the Sikh Guru tradition had popularised sports and Nirmal Akhada has been carrying forward the tradition bequeathed by the Gurus.

The former Uttarakhand Sports Minister, Narayan Singh Rana, who was also present on the occasion said that Haridwar has successfully hosted the three- day championship. “It is good to engage the youth in sports to channelise their energy rightly.

Otherwise, they tend to stray into bad habits like substance abuse which is happening now everywhere to the alarm of the society,” he said. The former Minister, further, said that a shooting range would be set up in Haridwar in future for Aain ball tournament.

The president of Aain Ball Federation of India Pratap Singh who is also the head of Youth of True India (YOTI) Foundation announced the names of the winners of the tournament.