Amritsar, 18th October, 2011: In the first phase of the recently flagged off ‘Idea Junior Champions League’, Idea Cellular is giving young sports stars of Amritsar schools, a chance of getting coached by national level coaches in various sports categories. India’s leading telecom brand, Idea, recently announced the launch of ‘Idea Junior Champions League’ to identify and recognize the best sporting talent from across 72 schools in Punjab.  

Senior national level coaches from Punjab Sports Department visited the participating schools – Ryan International School, Amritsar Public School, DAV International School, Delhi Public School, Cambridge International School, Holy Heart Presidency School, Sri Guru Harkrishan Sen Sec School, Navjot Modern Sen Sec School and Luvdale Sec School, in Amritsar and guided students about the international rules, strategies, equipment and techniques in 9 major Athletics categories comprising of Individual and Relay Races, Long Jump, Shot Put, Javelin Throw, Volley Ball, Hockey, Judo, etc. to help them hone their sporting talent for participation in the school level sporting competition. The Coaches are also helping the schools to recognize potential sportspersons and motivate these future Medal Winners to participate in sports like Athletics and Hockey.

Mr. Anish Roy, Chief Operating Officer - Punjab, J&K and HP, IDEA Cellular said, “The youth of Punjab is talented, ambitious, and has won laurels for the country in many national and international sporting events. Through this pioneering initiative, Idea wishes to build on to the talent base in this state, by giving the young athletes a platform to showcase their sporting talent. Idea, along with the support of Punjab Sports Department, has organised proper coaching, equipment, venue etc. for young children to hone their sporting talent.”
 
Starting this month, training sessions are being held across all participating schools in Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda & Patiala for students to hone their skills before the selection trials of the competition. During the selection level, athletes/ teams will be selected from schools through trials held within the school campus. These students will later represent their respective schools in the Mega Inter-School Sports Competition held in their city, to identify the Sports Champions across Punjab. Over 3,000 young sporting aspirants from 72 major schools in 6 cities of Punjab will get to participate in the ‘Annual Inter-School Sports Championship’.

Idea has always been committed to promote Music and Sports among the youth of this country, and particularly in Punjab. This is yet another initiative from Brand Idea to promote sports at school level and recognize the young talent to spur their sporting ambitions.