Artistes rehearse at Mithilesh Stadium for the cultural programme at the All India Police Games, in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Jan. 31: A day before the 60th All India Police Games 2011 tees off, director-general of police Abhayanand today inspected the stadium and grounds where the volleyball, basketball, handball and kabaddi matches would be held.

After taking stock of the situation, Abhayanand, also the chairman of the games organising committee, said 21 state police teams, two teams from Union Territories and six teams of central paramilitary forces had registered for the mega sports event. Around 1,663 sportspersons and team managers have reported to the venue, he said.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar would inaugurate the five-day mega sports event being held in Bihar after 16 years. Director of Intelligence Bureau N. Sandhu, who is also a Bihar cadre IPS officer, would be present at the closing ceremony on February 5, Abhayanand said.

The organising committee’s secretary Raveendra Sankaran said for the first time in the history of All India Police Games, the draw for the matches was taken out in the presence of the team managers. “Bihar has set a precedent by adopting lottery system, which other states will follow,” he said.

Sankaran said 21 teams would participate in handball, 24 in basketball, 29 in volleyball and 27 in kabaddi. Bihar will take part in all the four events.

Sankaran, posted as deputy inspector-general (human rights), said: “We expect good performance from our teams during the championship.”

“The largest contingent is from Jammu and Kashmir. Ninety sportspersons are taking part in the event from the state. There are 63 sportspersons from neighbouring Jharkhand. The lowest number of participants (sportspersons) — 13 — is from Delhi,” he said.

Additional director-general (law and order) S.K. Bhardwaj, who is in charge of media cell, said the preparations for the five-day event, which is part of the state’s centenary celebrations, were complete. The first match would start at 7.30am on Wednesday.

The grounds have been equipped with floodlights to facilitate day-night matches.