Department of
Physical Education & Department of Library Science of Post Graduate
Government College for Girls, Sector 42, Chandigarh, in collaboration
with National Council of Sports and Physical Education (NCSPE) organized
One-Day ‘International Conference on Sports for Development and Peace’
(Virtual) on 6th April 2020, in order to celebrate ’International day of
Sports for Development and Peace (IDSDP)'. IDSDP is an annual celebration
of the power of sport to drive social change, community development and to
foster peace and understanding. In response to global developments concerning
the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the IDSDP focused on the health benefits of
participating in sporting and physical activity, especially in this time of
uncertainty and social distancing. The motto of the International Day of Sport this
year was #BeActive and healthy to beat #COVID19.
The motive
behind the conference was to gather key actors from across the world involved
in the field of Sports for development and peace (SDP) at one place
irrespective of the global lockdown. The conference organizers wanted to bring
everyone at one platform be an Olympians, Paralympian, sports
administrators, bureaucrats diplomats policymakers, educators, active and
retired athletes, research Scholar’s, coaches, Exports from sports science‘s
and support staff etc. This was only possible by providing a virtual platform
to the speakers and well as the participants.
Speakers like Marion
Keim, Chairperson, Foundation for Sport, Development and Peace, South Africa; Dr.
Constantinos Filis, Director, International Olympic Truce Centre, Greece; and
Ofra Abramovich, Founder and Chairwomen of the Board, Mamanet, Israel; Richard
Koo, President IOAPA, Canada presented their views to the participants using
the virtual platform. Forty-Five speakers from 16 countries (Greece, Ireland,
South Africa, Canada, USA, UK, Lithuania, Pakistan, Italy, Spain, France,
Singapore, Israel, Zambia, India) addressed virtually and delivered their talks
about sports for development and peace. The conference started around 10.00 am
on 6th April in the morning by the address of Prof Binu Dogra,
Principal of the College and ended at 2.30 am on 7th April with the
concluding remarks by Dr Ram Niwas Yadav. The participants were able to
interact with the speakers and speakers responded to the participants queries.
Around 5000 people
around the globe participated in this virtual conference, which included Sportsperson, faculty members and students from undergraduate and graduate study
programmes and other people linked to the field of SDP. Participants gain new
knowledge from the area of SDP, they will able to connect to international sports
personalities, and learned from different examples of how sport can contribute to
their solution. Participants had an opportunity to learn from a diverse range
of perspectives from all around the world.
The conference was
one of its kind as everyone from the organiser to the speakers and to the participants;
interacted with each other virtually rather than physically. The organising
team was lead by Dr Binu Dogra comprised of Dr Dilip Kumar, Dr Punam Aggarwal, Dr
Ram Niwas Yadav, Dr Preeti Sharda and Mr Mohit Verma.
