Sports and games meets are a good break for police officers and men, who are on duty round-the-clock, to interact and mingle freely with their colleagues, Director General of Police B. Prasada Rao has said.

Addressing the gathering at the inaugural of the 47th AP State Sports and Games Meet here on Wednesday, he said despite pressures from all sides during the last four years in view of the State Reorganisation, the AP Police received accolades at the national-level for ensuring that not even a single life was lost in police firing during the last four years. The AP Police came in for appreciation at the DGPs conference held in November last year in New Delhi. Mr. Prasada Rao was optimistic that the police force would continue its good work during the ensuing elections also. He told the participants that the spirit of sportsmanship was more important than winning in the games. He called upon the participants to show discipline they observe in their duty on the ground also and bring good name to the department. He commended Tulasi Chaitanya (Vijayawada city), Mohd. Baba (Medak), Gopi (Cyberabad) and Varalakshmi (Visakhapatnam city) for bringing laurels to the Police Department in games and sports at the national level. Earlier, Additional Director General (Sports) Rajiv Trivedi said over 2,000 sports persons from different ranges in the State, including Ministerial staff, were participating in the State-level event. Chinnari (Eluru range) bagged the first place followed by Manga of Hyderabad and Radhamani of Visakhapatnam city in the 800-m run for women.