The curtain has fallen on the state school athletic meet at Kunnamkulam with Palakkad district winning its third consecutive crown. This meet also puts forward the good hope that tomorrow's sports buds will sprout from the sweaty track and field of teenage talent. Apart from fighting spirit and medal achievements, our children were also able to learn good lessons of sportsmanship spirit from this meet. As usual, the burning stories of deprivation also come before the authorities through such sports fairs, which become the direction of the sports future of the country.

Palakkad, who were the champions of the school sports fair in 2019 and 2022, retained the championship title with 266 points winning 28 gold, 27 silver and 12 bronze from 96 events. Malappuram came second with 168 points with 13 gold, 22 silver and 20 bronze. Kozhikode is third with 95 points with 10 gold, 7 silver and 12 bronze.

Malappuram Kadakassery Ideal EHSS (57 points) retained last year's championship title among schools. Ernakulam Kothamangalam Mar Basil HSS (46) came second and Palakkad Kalladi HSS Kumaramputhur (43) came third. K Kiran of Palakkad Vadavannur VMHS, J Bijoy of Palakkad Chittur GHSS, KC Sarvan of Kasaragod Kuttamath GHSS, V Anupriya of Kasaragod Udinur GHSS and P Abhiram of Palakkad Mathur CFDVHSS corrected the meet records. Sarvan holds two meet records. Nine children became individual champions. Four won triple gold.

Children are brought into the field of sports, not from families with great financial means or support. Over the past few days, we have seen the life stories of many people who came from backgrounds of poverty and disease. The sports arena needs to be able to open new and brighter ways in life for them. The government should take the initiative to find and encourage those who excel in school sports fairs and provide them with good training, accommodation and food for free. The practice of using children as tools to gain name and fame for schools and coaches in one or two sporting events must stop. The practice of burning out talent at a young age by making them participate in countless competitions with workloads beyond their capabilities also needs to come under control.

Winners are not just those who win medals in school sports events. Those who have had the opportunity to participate should also be appreciated. Many of the athletes who have won medals in the Olympics, Asian Games and other international competitions and became the pride of the country, are not the ones who won medals in school sports. It was meets like this that gave them the energy to push forward in sports even when they didn't win prizes that day. May that energy flow to the new generation as well. Only children studying in the state syllabus participated in the sports meet at Kunnamkulam. Children studying other syllabi also have talents. Government should try to find and encourage them too.

Congratulations once again to all the competitors in this sports event, the coaches who got them here and the officials who organized the competitions so well.