UIPM Biathle First World Tour took place in Panaji Miramar beach on 17th December 2016 as over two hundred athletes showed up from all over India and Asia to compete in this competition that involved alternate bouts of running with a length of swimming in between which varied with age groups.

With efforts from the Modern Pentathlon Association of India and Brand Sports, the sports divison of Brand Promotions India, under the aegis of the International Modern Pentathlon Union, commonly known as UIPM, the international governing body of Modern Pentathlon and the Olympic sports, this unique event turned out to be a big crowd puller.

After such a huge and competitive turnout, Namdev Shirgaonkar Secretary General of Modern Pentathlon Federation of India who is also the Secretary General of Asian Modern Pentathlon Confederation and the youngest executive Committee member of Indian Olympic said, “India added one more star in the sport of Pentathlon this year. We’re happy that India has begun on this road of success that will only make this nation shine brighter. We look forward to our Modern Pentathlon flag in the 2018 Asia Games in Indonesia and the 2020 Olympics to make this country proud.”

The races began at 9.30 am, starting with the youngest category and gradually grew as per the age category as the day went on. Each race gradually increased in distance as the age categories changed until the final and the biggest test of endurance had the athletes run a total of 3.2 kms with a swim of 400 mts in between. It was a real pleasure to see youth with such vigour in this day and age of technology and passivism.

Petruschinski Bernhard Andreas from Germany, the technical director for the event, and representative of UIPM to manage the technical conduct of the event said, ” I was amazed at the passion that the children had for the sport. It really makes me happy to see the children smile and that is exactly what we achieved with this tour to India. I hope we continue on this road of providing children with the platforms for making them proud of their talents and hard earned accomplishments.”

Vinay Marathe, Director of Sports MPFI said, “ Our aim is to take this sport to the grass-root levels of the country so that the youth of India has a chance to showcase their talent on a worthy platform. Our main wheels are Biathle and Trialthle and since swimming and running are common in the country, we bank on them to make this sport popular in India. We have tie ups with countries to have international coaches to train our athletes for a more competitive place in the world. Our main agenda is to have a solid presence in the 2020 olympics so they can compete with the rest of the world on an even keel."

The races came to a close by 2 pm and all the athletes were given their due rest until the grand festivities of the felicitation followed by a Gala dinner and entertainment.