Rural Sikkim glows in sporting pursuits thanks to PYKKA Games

Chetan Pradhan & Shilpa Periwal
Karun Gurung hails from Mangan in North Sikkim and till last year, the closest he got to martial arts was while watching Jackie Chan or Jet Li on pirated DVDs. Six months ago, a Taekwondo instructor arrived in his school and offered to take in interested students. Karun signed up. Six months later, he was in Gangtok for the state-level sporting competition, the Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan [PYKKA] games, representing not just his village, but the entire district.

Similar stories of raw talent from rural Sikkim getting a state-level platform to get noticed, peppered the event which played out at venues across Gangtok from 15 to 22 Dec 2011.

PYKKA was launched in 2008-09 to promote sports culture in rural areas by providing basic sports infrastructure and equipment at the Panchayat level and to promote both indigenous and modern games in rural areas through annual competitions. PYKKA is a jointly funded sports mission by the State and Centre which has opened up opportunities for rural boys and girls to display their sporting talent. The scheme aims at encouraging sports at grassroots level with a motive to increase the bench strength of players in the country by providing them with basic infrastructure.
Manoj Sharma, a Table Tennis player, says, “I would have never imagined myself to be at this stage of playing this game. Though I was interested in Table Tennis and used to observe people playing this sport, I never got an opportunity to play and receive proper training, so I thought it’s better to concentrate on my day-to-day work. Later, when the coaches were sent by the Government to train us, I got really interested in learning this game. Now, I am standing here having won the gold medal at the State level”.
The PYKKA competition has athletics, archery, badminton, boxing, football, Kho-Kho, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Volleyball and Wushu disciplines. The State-level games were conducted at TNA ground, Paljor Stadium complex and Guards Ground in Gangtok.
Dignitaries like HRDD Minister, NK Pradhan, Chief Secretary, Karma Gyatso were present at the venue to encourage players who were here to represent their respective districts at the PYKKA games.
The PYKKA games are held at three levels - Village Level, District Level and State Level. It all begins at the Zilla Panchayat Unit level wherein players from different blocks compete. The winners then go on to play at the district level moving on to the state level thereafter. The state level winners eventually compete at the national level.
Football and cricket dominate the sporting scene in the rural areas but PYKKA offers the opportunity to explore other games like Kho-Kho, Taekwondo, Boxing etc. Also, the scheme has been designed by the centre keeping in mind the widening rural-urban gap and provides an opportunity for rural sporting talent to participate in district and block level tournaments thereby seeking to bridge this gap.
Edenla Bhutia an athlete for the past 3 years and who has also participated at the school level bringing fame and glory to her family and her district. Edenla can be an inspiration for a generation of boys and girls of Sikkim to take the plunge into the world of athletics.
If such schemes continue for another 5-10 years, it is expected that a lot of talent will emerge especially in the contact games. With the mission duration of 10 years, nearly 607 districts, 6373 block Panchayats and 250,000 village panchayats in the country will be covered under the scheme. States will be provided with an annual competition grant, annual acquisition grant, one time capital grant, technical assistance and capacity building services.
This is the second year of PYKKA event here in Gangtok and once again players from all around Sikkim have been selected to play at the PYKKA event and show their talent. These players, from all over Sikkim, are lodged in the premises provided by the Government. The Paljor Stadium hostel housed around 1000 players this time with the food and lodging organised by the Government.

While speaking to football players from the North District it became obvious that Bhaichung Bhutia was a great inspiration to them. They all want to become the next ‘Sikkimese Sniper’.
“My parents are not so keen for me to be a part of any sport event. They want me to stay back at home, study hard and perform well in academics. But after the encouragement of the coach who saw me playing kho-kho, I got this opportunity to prove to my parents that sports can also enrich our future” says kho-kho player Abhinav Gurung.
Speaking on the PYKKA opportunity Sachit Gurung, a Wushu martial artist from West District says, “I would have never got a chance to show my talent this way so I am thankful to the Government for giving us such a big platform to show our talent.”
PYKKA has not only encouraged these young players to let their talent shine but also brought about a more serious and organised pursuit of sports in rural Sikkim.