A professional paraglider from Everest School of Adventure, Manali, demonstrates his skills on the inaugural day of the First Youth Adventure Sports Festival at the Bihar Veterinary College grounds in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Adventure junkies in the state can now look forward to some adrenaline rush without stepping out of Bihar.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, while inaugurating the First Youth Adventure Sports Festival on Friday, asked mountaineer Santosh Yadav to start an adventure sports academy for which the government would provide all help.

The three-day event would witness sports like parasailing, paragliding, artificial rock climbing, rappelling, relay cycle race and adventure photography. Parasailing would be held at Bihar Veterinary College ground, while the others will be conducted at Moin-ul-Haq Stadium.

Nitish said: “Bihar has a huge potential for adventure sports. Ghorakatora at Rajgir, apart from Rohtas and Gaya, have a lot of scope for arranging activities such as rock climbing.”

The chief minister added that such sports should be held at regular intervals. Students, especially from government schools, should be encouraged to take part in such activities. Nitish added that scholarships would be provided to students who pursue adventure sports.

Mountaineer Santosh Yadav inaugurates the adventure sports festival with chief minister Nitish Kumar at Bihar Veterinary College on Friday. Present with the duo are the Padma Shri’s children and art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey. Picture by Deepak Kumar

It is the first time that the government is organising adventure sports. The event is in line with a series of programmes being organised in the run-up to the centenary celebrations.

Addressing the large number of school and college students present at the event, Nitish said he wanted students to study and take part in sports as well.

Santosh said she wanted adventure sports to be promoted from Patna to Rajgir. “Bihar has a huge potential for adventure sports but nothing has been done as yet. I welcome the initiative of chief minister Nitish Kumar for starting adventure sports,” she said.

The sporting extravaganza has been organised by the art, culture and youth affairs department, in association with Everest School of Adventure, Manali, Bihar Adventure Sports Academy and Navjivan Kalyan Samiti.

Professional paragliders demonstrated their skills at the event. During the three days, students would be able to participate in a number of sporting events.

Swati Priya, a student of Patna Women’s College, said: “This is the first time that I am taking part in adventure sports and it feels great. I have seen paragliding and parasailing on TV but witnessing these events live is exhilarating.”