13th Zoroastrian Games

The Zoroastrian Society of Ontario (ZSO) will be hosting the 13th Zoroastrian Games in Toronto, Canada, over the first weekend of July 2012, noted the ZSO newsletter of October 2010. "We are excited to be going back to Canada, our biggest host supporter since we started taking the Zoroastrian Games to different cities. We’re also thrilled to be working with ZSO over the next two years in planning the details,” stated a write-up from the Zoroastrian Sports Committee (ZSC) that is the original and official sports committee of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA).

The ZSO executive committee has appointed its executive officer Daraius Bharucha as chair of the Zoroastrian Games. It was Bharucha who led the ZSO bid for the Games, assisted by ZSO vice president Kevin Mancherjee in the preparation and planning. While Man­cherjee is in charge of ZSO’s information technology subcommittee, Bharucha handles the interfaith and the religious education (children) subcommittees at ZSO. The Games chair will be assisted in his efforts by a team of young and old volunteers from Toronto. "We encourage you to support your youth to prepare for and participate in the 13th Games. We hope that Zoroastrian associations throughout the world will help us to broaden and diversify the Zoroastrian Games and sponsor at least one team from their local area to participate in the 2012 Games,” urged ZSC.

Established in 1988 by a small number of enthusiastic Zoroastrian youth who conceived the idea at a wedding celebration, ZSC has over the years grown to become "the biggest Zoroastrian committee dedicated to promoting sports and sportsmanship among Zoroastrian youth worldwide. Our goal is to promote unity and friendly competition among our youth and encourage them to lead healthier lives by making sports a routine part of their lives,” notes the FEZANA website. Since the first Zoroastrian Games conducted in Los Angeles in 1988 with a small number of participants, over the years the Games have grown to attract participants and fans from the US, Canada, India, Iran, Europe and other regions.

For further details on the 13th Games contact zsc@fezana.org