First transgender meet

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Chhattisgarh’s capital city Raipur is set to witness a historic event as the two-day All India Transgender Sports Meet, said to be first of its kind in the world, kick-starts here on Saturday.

The event, being organised by Right Turn Welfare Society (RTWS) — a body of nationally reputed sports persons — aims to help the third gender community join the mainstream of the society and change the mindset of the common people towards the marginalised populace.
Laxmi Prasad Tripathy of Big Boss fame and popular face of the third gender community is scheduled to inaugurate the meet.
Prominent among others who will also grace the occasion include Ernest from United Nations Development Programme, Rudrani from Delhi (Mitra Trust), Silver Merchant from Gujarat (National AIDS Control), Sita Devi (Kinnar Bharati), and Abina (Alliance India, Delhi).
“The event is the first of its kind in the world and has already generated interest at the national and international levels. We have received a letter from Commonwealth Federation highly appreciating our efforts to organise such a meet, which will go a long way to help the third sex community join the mainstream of the society”, Teja Singh Sahu, secretary of RTWS told this newspaper here on Friday.
“There are plenty of talents among the community and the meet is an effort to provide platform to such talents”, he added.
Around 150 persons from nine states — Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhi — are scheduled to participate in the sports meet which will witness four events — kabbadi, tug-of-war, kho-kho and athletics.