20th February 2022 18:16:32 Hours
The 'CISM Day Run' in Sri Lanka in parallel with the global occurrence of the event got underway in Colombo this morning (20) as per guidelines given by the International Military Sports Council which is instrumental in holding it world-wide. The Secretary Defence, General Kamal Gunaratne (Retd), Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army, General Shavendra Silva, Navy and Air Force Commanders took part in the ‘CISM Day Run’ which aims at promoting the practice of sports and bringing together all communities of sports in the military context.
It was flagged off at Air Force Headquarters premises and walked up to Galle Face and returned along the same route was initiated in the year 2006 as the CISM Run. Since then, tri-services have been organizing the event every year on rotational basis as this special day is concurrently held in more than 150 nations with the CISM motto, ‘Friendship Through Sport’. Sri Lanka Air Force planned out this year’s arrangement with the participation of a large gathering of service personnel, including several wheelchair-ridden War Heroes.
General Kamal Gunaratne (Retd), Defence Secretary on arrival at the location was received by General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff & Commander of the Army and Commanders of the Navy and the Air Force.
In 1948, the French squadron leader Henri Debrus, together with militaries of France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark, founded the ‘Conseil International du Sport Militaire’ (CISM) in Nice, France with the great ideal of promoting peace through sports between the Armed Forces.
