Sabroom, April 7 (TIWN): Gramin Khel 2016-17 surely sounds like a festival. Even more so when one realises that ‘Matka race’, tug-of-war and ‘head gear’ race are a few offbeat competitions that will be witnessed at the sports ministry’s latest proposed event in remote ADC village of Rupaichari.

 The competition will be held in three phases — block-level qualifiers, inter- block competitions, and finals. The block level qualifiers will be organised in the respective areas, while those who make the cut will compete in the inter-block.

“The idea behind including these events is to encourage more people to turn up. We have to do such events to ignite curiosity among the rural folk,” Rupaichari Block chairman Sathai Mog said.

Rural sports schemes in India have a long history. The first such programme, under the flagship of the Department of Youth Affairs & Sports, was launched way back in 1970 but never brought the desired results.