Bhubaneswar: The sports and youth affairs department will host the final round of the state-level sports meet under "Promotion for Sports among Tribals" in three cities with more than 6,000 qualifying athletes taking part.

The events will begin from February 7 and conclude on February 17. Bhubaneswar will host the football, kho-kho and kabaddi matches. The events will be held in venues such as Unit-I Boys' High School, Unit-I Girls' High School, Unit-VI Girls' High School, Kalinga Stadium and KIIT. In a letter to Bhubaneswar Development Authority vice-chairman Krishan Kumar, principal secretary of the sports and youth affairs department, Vishal Dev, said the state-level tribal sports competition would be held at different venues of Bhubaneswar and requested him to make the necessary arrangements at the venues.

Besides, the sports and youth affairs department is also planning to have a grand opening and closing ceremony for the event in Bhubaneswar. "The events and the activities for the opening and closing ceremony will be discussed shortly. We will also finalise the venue for these ceremonies," said an official of the department. The government will provide special tracksuits, warm-up shoes and shocks, among other basic attires, to the athletes. Each set of clothes will cost the government around Rs 1,500.

"We have already provided the sports kit to the players and have decided to provide the outfit too for the final event," said the official.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had launched the scheme for promotion of sports among tribals in December last year following which all the district authorities swung into action and had conducted several sporting events at their level. Sources said the district level competitions would be over by January 15.