Policemen take part at the annual police sports meet at Mithilesh Stadium in Patna. Picture by J Prakash

Patna, March 1: The state police headquarters is gearing up to host the All India Police Athletic Championship 2011 to be held at the Mithilesh Stadium on the premises of the Bihar Military Police (BMP) in February-March 2012.

The Bihar Police Building Construction Corporation (BPBCC) has been assigned to repair the stadium for the event. “The preparations for the All India Police Athletic Championship are going on in full swing,” said Bihar director-general of police (DGP) Neel Mani.

A synthetic track is being prepared at the stadium for the athletes. The track would be of international standards.

In addition, an upgraded hostel is being set up on the BMP campus to accommodate 300 sportspersons taking part in the championship.

The state police have been provided the opportunity to host such a mega function after a gap of about 14 years.

The last championship was held in Bihar in 1997, recalled a senior police officer posted at the state police headquarters.

Around 1,200 athletes of the state and the central forces would participate in the championship.

Sources said 30 teams of the state police, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police , Railway Protection Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and Central Industrial Security Force would take part in football, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, kabaddi, handball, race and other competitions.

“The list of sportspersons to take part in the 2010 All India Police Athletic Championship to be held at Madhuban in Haryana from March 28 to April 4 is being finalised,” said S. Ravindran, the organising secretary of the Bihar Annual Police Sports Championship.

Sportspersons of six police zones took part in the championship to select the teams for the All India Police Athletic Championship.

“On an average, 92-100 sportspersons from each zone participated in the different games,” the organising secretary said.

The BMP team performed well in all the competitions except volleyball in which Patna zone was adjudged the best team.

While the BMP team was placed first, Patna zone was declared second followed by Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga, respectively.

Speaking at the concluding function of the Bihar Annual Police Sports Championship, DGP Neel Mani said the state police headquarters was contemplating to honour the medallists of the National Games held in Ranchi recently.

“A proposal to honour the medallists at the All India Police Athletic Championship in the past two years is also under consideration of the police headquarters,” he said.

The DGP said the winners of the medals at the national competitions would be given out-of-turn promotions besides some other benefits.

“The state administration is working out a proposal how to promote sportspersons in the police (home) department,” he said.

Neel Mani added that a detailed sports policy is being formulated to recruit sportspersons in the police department.