Bhubaneswar, July 1: The city administration is leaving no stone unturned to promote the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship, 2017 with its mascot Olly.
Amidst applause and cheering of hundreds of students from primary to secondary schools, Olly, the championship mascot, was greeted with a grand parade during the ongoing social connect initiative undertaken by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation for the grand sports event.
The fourth day of the citizen connect exercise of the mascot was a huge success today. Tiny-tots and senior staff from various educational institutions and shoppers at city malls had a great time with Olly today. "It is a great initiative of the administration to conduct such a drive," said Trinath Purohit, a schoolteacher.
Olly visited Mothers Public School at Unit-I and Doon Public School on the outskirts of the state capital. Students greeted the mascot and had an entertaining session with it on school premises. "I hope the efforts of the administration yield result. I wish a grand success of the event," said Purohit.
Teachers and students took part in various events. Students had fun with miniature versions of Olly cut outs in their hands.
At DAV Public School, Pokhariput, students gave a warm welcome to the mascot. Olly took a joy ride on its designated van around the entire playground of the school greeting each student. The mascot also performed on the stage with several students. The teachers were also seen taking selfies and photographs with Olly.
During the afternoon, Olly reached DAV Public School at Unit-VIII. Students were eagerly waiting for its arrival at the auditorium. They welcomed the mascot with flags of 45 Asian nations that were taking part in the 22nd Asian Athletics Championship to be held from July 6 and July 9 at Kalinga Stadium here.
"It is was great moment with Olly. We danced and had fun with him. I like the idea of making an olive riddle turtle the mascot of the event. We study about olive riddle turtles in our textbooks and now it seems that the turtle has comes alive from the book and having fun with us. It was indeed a great experience," said Chitra Meher, a Class VI student of DAV Pokhariput.
Police have made elaborate security arrangements for the event. The entire stadium will be covered under CCTV surveillance and a temporary police control room will be set up on the stadium premises.
Forty platoons of police personnel will be deployed for the event along with 400 officers. Besides Anti-Terrorism Squad, jawans of Special Operations Group and Quick Response Team will also be deployed for smooth conduct of the event.
A sports official said about 800 athletes from 45 countries would take part in the event, hosted by India for the third time. While, Delhi had hosted the event in 1989, Pune had the opportunity to organise the tournament in 2013.
