Issued by India

Issued on Oct 14, 2007

Issued for : The Department of Posts is happy to release a set of three commemorative postage stamps and a miniature sheet on 4^th CISM Military Games.

Design : The commemorative stamps display 4^th MWG multisport activities and try to capture spirit of the games. They display the solidarity of the participating military teams from different CISM member nations.

The first Day Cover depicts the main motto of the games i.e. ‘FRIENDSHIP THROUGH SPORTS’.

Credits :
Stamp & FDC : Kamleshwar Singh
Cancellation : Alka Sharma

Type : Miniature Sheet, Mint Condition

Colour : Multicolour

Denomination : 500 Paise each

Stamps Printed : 0.8 Million each

Miniature Sheets : 0.1 Million

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printer : India Security Press, Nasik

About : 

• India was privileged to host the 4^th CISM Military World Games from 14 to 21 October 2007 at Hyderabad and Mumbai under the aegis of Conseil International Du Sport Militaire (‘CISM’ a French acronym) or International Military Sports Council, HQ based at Brussels.
• CISM formed in 1948, used sports to unite the Armed forces of nations. Presently it is composed of 127 member countries which are united through its motto of ‘FRIENDSHIP THROUGH SPORTS’. CISM organizes over 20 World Championships annually, besides the Military World Games (MWG) held every four years. The first MWG were held in 1995 in Rome, second in Zagreb, Croatia in 1999, and the third at Catania, Italy in 2003.
• During the Afro-Asian Games in 2003 at Hyderabad, visiting CISM officials proposed that India should host the 4^th Military World Games 07. The formal signing of Invitation for participating countries, between CISM and Indian Armed Forces took place on 26 September 2006 at Hyderabad.
• The Logo and Mascot for MWG 07 was launched on 27 December 2006. 4^th MWG 07 being an international sporting event, theme for the Logo was taken from the famous five rings of the Olympic Logo depicting five inhabitant continents (North and South Americas are counted as one continent, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia being the other four). The five petals of the Logo depict our national flower Lotus.
• The great Indian Bison, being the formation sign of the Hyderabad based Infantry Division of Indian Army, was selected as the Mascot for the Games since the Games were held at Hyderabad. A majestic Bison, normally imperturbable and always treated with respect in the animal kingdom, possesses immense strength, vigour and doggedness. When provoked, its spurt, ferocity and speed of charge drives terror into the hearts of its opponents. Indian Armed Forces reputation can, thus, be compared with that of a Bison.
• The following games were included in the 4^th CISM Military World Games: Boxing, Judo, Sailing, Handball, Football, Track & Field events, Diving, Wrestling, Triathlon, Parachuting, Volleyball, Mil Pentathlon, Swimming and Shooting.
• Text : Based on material provided by the proponent.

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Issued by India

Issued on Apr 25, 2004

Issued for : The Department of Posts celebrates the spirit behind the circumnavigation voyage through the issue of this commemorative postage stamp on INS Tarangini.

Credits :
Stamp & FDC : Kamleshwar Singh
Cancellation : Alka Sharma

Type : Miniature Sheet, Mint Condition

Colour : Multicolour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Print Quantity : 0.8 Million

Number per issue sheet : 40

Printing Process : Photo Offset

Printer : Madras Security Printers Ltd.

About : 

• Relieving the saga of ancient mariners and sailing through storms and choppy seas, INS Tarangini has completed a voyage, the mission of which was goodwill and peace apart from the training of its cadets. INS Tarangini is a three-masted barque, designed by Colin Muddie, famous naval architect and yacht designer of United Kingdom and built by Goa Shipyard Ltd. The name ‘Tarangini’ is derived from the Hindi word ‘Tarang’ which means wave. The crest of the ship depicts a mother swan teaching her child to swim and fly, thus depicting the primary role of the ship in training cadets of the Indian Navy.
• INS Tarangini was commissioned in the Indian Navy on November 11, 1997 and forms a part of the 1^st Training Squadron, based at Kochi on the west coast of southern India. The Indian Naval ships – Tir, Krishna and Tarangini – are all meant for training but INS Tarangini is the only Sail Training Ship in the Indian Navy. Throughout the world, thirty Navies own sail ships and in Asia, INS Tarangini is the third one.
• Sail training ships are increasingly being used as basic seamanship and character building platforms by navies the world over. Sailing platforms provide an ideal setting to provide first-hand experience of the vagaries of the sea to cadets embarking on a naval career. All sailing manoeuvres require experience of the basic elements of marine environment viz. wind and weather. They also need a good deal of sea sense. Sail training imparts all these virtues. The objective of the circumnavigation voyage is not just to teach cadets seamanship, navigation, astro-navigation, semaphore and morse light signalling but also inculcate in them courage, camaraderie and endurance. INS Tarangini, primarily meant for the sail training of Cadets of First Training Squadron, also conducts sail training capsules for cadets of the National Defence Academy, Naval Academy and INS Shivaji.
• INS Tarangini set sail on the circumnavigation voyage on January 23, 2003. It battled wind and waves to proudly fly the National Flag and the Naval Ensign at 36 ports in 18 countries and six continents. It covered 33,000 nautical miles travelling through the Arabian Sea, the pirate-infested Red Sea, the narrow Suez Canal, the turbulent Mediterranean, the chilly Atlantic, the Great Lakes, Panama Canal and the stormy Pacific. Propagating the theme of “Bridges of Friendship across the Oceans”, the voyage aimed at broadening the horizons of young officers and officer-trainees by exposing them to the socio-political, cultural and maritime facets of different countries and to inculcate in them a spirit of adventure, esprit de corps, physical and mental agility.
• INS Tarangini stole the show at the Tall Ship races in the Great Lakes. Sailing ships from 24 countries, some with centuries-old sailing traditions, had participated in the event. The Tarangini came first in two races and third in the remaining two of the Youth Sailing Division, the main category of races. Besides, the Indians were the overall champions. The Tarangini was unanimously judged the best ship. Because it had come from the farthest country, the Indian vessel got the Long Distance Ship award too.
• Tarangini’s voyage not only symbolises the grit and determination of her crew, but also signals the sea-fearing capabilities, global reach and sustainability of the Indian Navy. The ship has proved herself to be a true ambassador of the nation wherever she has unfurled her sails. Tarangini – true to her name – made waves by her consistent and superlative performance during the entire circumnavigation voyage.
• Text : Based on material given by the proponent.

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Issued by India

Issued on Apr 29, 1992

Description of Designs : The set of stamps and First Day Cover have been designed by R.N. Pasricha. The cancellation has been designed by Alka Sharma.

Type : Stamps, Postal Used

Colour : Multi Colour

Denomination : 200, 400, 500 & 1100 Paisa

Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.

Printing Size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Imported Un W/M adhesive gravure coated Stamp Paper

Number Printed : 6,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printed : India Security Press

About : 

• Adventure sports is a new phenomenon that has been catching on all over the world in recent years. Any activity, that has elements of adventure in generous measure and of competition even if only in limited measure, could qualify as an adventure sport. Hence though the sky is the limit, Indian Posts & Telegraphs Department have chosen four of the more established sports, to begin with.
• Hang Gliding: Otto Lilienthal the father of modern Hang Gliding coined the term ‘Hange Gleiter‘. A typical hang glider consists of a light aluminium frame to which a synthetic fabric is attached. The pilot is suspended by a harness or swing seat connected to the control frame. Hang Gliding is an organised sport with competitions for duration of flight, distance and altitude gained. This sport was introduced in India in 1984 when for the first time a competition was held in Billing, in the Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh, which remains the most famous gliding spot in India, hosting many an international standard competition.
• Wind Surfing: This is a recently developed water sport and is also known as ‘Sailboarding‘ in some countries. It is a combination of the basic principles of sailing and surfing and is done on a fibre glass board, conical on both sides. The sport in its modern form originated in California in the late 1960’s and came to India in the early 1980’s and is now very popular in the coastal areas of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Goa. National competitions of this sport are also being held in this country.
• River Rafting: White water rafting was first done on the Colorado river in the U.S.A. in 1858 by Major J. W. Powell. This sport caught the attention of adventure lovers in India in 1984 when a joint Indo-American expedition was flagged off on the river Ganga. India has made its mark in this sport in international competitions and has won Silver and Bronze medals on a number of occasions. The Indian rivers suitable for this sport are the Ganga (September to May), Alaknanda (October to November), Bhagirathi, Sharda, Teesta, Brahmaputra, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Zanskar.
• Skiing: This is perhaps the oldest of these sports and skis believed to be 4000 to 5000 years old, have been found in bogs in Sweden and Finland. This sport gained popularity in Europe and North America in the beginning of the 20^th century and became an Olympic sport in the 1924 Games. It has become a major winter sport in Kashmir and the hills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. An annual national competition is held in Auli and the Winter Games Federation has held a championship in Gulmarg. Heli-Skiing is fast becoming the popular mode of skiing and in this, skiers are dropped in mountain peaks or ridges by a helicopter and they come down skiing. India is the first Asian country to offer this facility in Manali where it was introduced in 1988.
• Text : Based on material provided by Vijay Seth.

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Issued by Australia

Issued on Jan 17, 1990

Stamp design : Sue Passmore, Russell Bevers Design, Melbourne

Type : Stamps, Postal Used

Colour : Multi colour

Denomination : 5, 10, 20 & 65 cents and $1

About : 

• An emphasis on adventure, skill and energy characterises the Sports Series II designs.
• Kayaking and Canoeing first won enthusiasts early this century. The sport originated in Canada, adapting the canoes of North American Indians and the kayaks of Eskimos for recreational and competitive use.
• Sailboarding is one of the most recently developed water sports. Combining the principles of sailing and surfing, it can be enjoyed equally on ocean waves or the calm waters of bays and lakes.
• Tennis is a sport in which Australia has been particularly successful internationally. It has been played here since the 1870s and the first Australian championships were conducted in 1905.
• Rock–climbing began in Victoria and New South Wales during the late 1940s. Formerly just one aspect of mountaineering, the challenge of finding a path up the rock-face has made it a popular sport in its own right.
• Fun runs, altogether different in mood and pace, have attracted increasing numbers of participants as the fitness craze has gained momentum.

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Issued by India

Issued on Jan 10, 1987

Issued for : The Department of Posts is happy to issue a special stamp on TRISHNA, the First Indian Army Expedition of sailing around the World.

Description of Designs : The 650p multicolour stamp has been designed by India Security Press, Nashik Road. The stamp depicts the yacht ‘TRISHNA’ showing the route the sailing expedition had taken. The cancellation has been designed by Miss Nenu Bagga.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Multicolour

Denomination : 650 Paise

Overall size : 3.91 x 2.90 cms.

Printing size : 3.55 x 2.54 cms.

Perforation : 13 x 13

Paper : Imported unwatermarked P.G. coated and gummed stamp paper

Number printed : 15,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing Process : Photogravure

Printed at : India Security Press

About : 

• The First Indian Army Expedition sailing around the world in a small 37 feet approximately fibre glass yacht named TRISHNA sailed off from Bombay on 28^th September, 1985. The Expedition has gained historical significance being the first of its kind in Indian sailing history.
• The team comprised ten officers of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. They covered a distance of approximately 50,000 kms in 1½ years. There was a total crew of six officers on the boat. Out of these six, four officers sailed around the world, whereas the others changed at intermediate ports enroute.
• The team having been flagged off by the then Chief of the Army Staff, Late Gen. A.S. Vaidya, PVSM, MVC, AVSM, ADC on 28^th September, 1985 from Bombay touched Male (Maldives), Port Louis (Mauritius), St. Helena, Ascension Island, Natal & Belem (Brazil), Paramaribo (Surinam), Georgetown (Guyana), Port of Spain (Trinidad), Barbados, Kingston (Jamaica), and crossed through the Panama canal on 26^th February, 1986. Setting sail again from Panama on 5 April ’86 they touched Galapagos Islands, Marquesas Island, Bora Bora, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Fiji, Auckland, Sydney, Bali, Jakarta, Singapore, Colombo and returned back to Bombay.
• Trishna, which means an urge to attain and accomplish a deep routed desire, is 36 feet 6 inches in length, 10 feet 9 inches in width, has a draught of 6 feet 1 inch, with a gross weight of 10.5 tons. It has been built by Nautor of Finland and designed by Sparkman and Stephen. It has a sloop rig, a long keel and a skeg making it very sea worthy in rough weather. Trishna is fitted with the basic cruising equipment like a depth sounder, wind instruments, speed log radio direction finder, VHF and HF radios, a six man life raft and other safety equipment. Her 50 gallon water capacity has been increased to 130 gallons.
• The team went through very rough weather in the Indian Ocean and sailed through two severe storms around the tip of Madagascar and while rounding the Cape of Good Hope. Also the flat calms of the equatorial doldrums enroute to Mauritius made them drift 300 miles off course. From Tahiti onwards the weather turned rougher and rougher in the winter of the Southern Hemisphere. They ran into storms between Fiji and Auckland, which ripped their main and their jib sails. The reverse main sail was also ripped apart the journey across the Tasman Sea from Auckland to Sydney was the worst so far, when they encountered winds over 120 kmph and waves over 40 feet high. Close encounters with whales off the South Africa Coast and between Fiji and Auckland, sharks and dolphins, seals, and numerous other sea and land life, and at Galapagos Islands, where Darwin wrote the theory of evolution, was very interesting. The members of the expedition are:
  1. Col TPS Chowdhry – Team Manager, 2. Maj KS Rao, SM – Skipper, 3. Maj A Bhattacharya, 4. Maj SN Mathur, 5. Maj AP Singh SM, 6. Maj AK Singh SM, 7. Capt R Bassi, 8. Capt S Shekhar, 9. Capt C Bharti, 10. Lt. N. Ahuja.
• Text : Courtesy Col Chowdhry, Team Manager.

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Issued by Canada

Issued on Jul 3, 1979

Design : The Canoe-Kayak stamp was designed by Jon Eby of Toronto. Using a posterized adaptation of photographs, the designs convey a sense of the stamina and skill needed to participate in these strenuous sports.

Type : Stamp, Postal Used

Colour : Multi colour

Denomination : 17 Cents

About : 

• The 1979 Canoe-Kayak (Slalom and Wild Water) World Championships will take place in Jonquière and Desbiens, Quebec from June 30 to July 8, 1979. It will be the first time the event has ever been held outside Europe.
  
• The slalom demands a river with a minimum current of two meters per second, and with obstacles such as rocks, rapids, counter-currents and bridges. The course is approximately eight hundred meters long with twenty-five to thirty gates suspended over the water. Above each gate hangs a sign indicating to contestants whether they must pass through going forwards or backwards, and whether they must glide through with the current or paddle upstream through the gate. Athletes strive to complete the course in the shortest possible time, losing points for touching gates or missing them. “Wild water” racing, on the other hand, merely requires a fast time. But the course is at least three kilometers long and boasts numerous rapids, high and irregular waves, breakers, rollers, back-eddies and difficult drop-offs.

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Issued by India

Issued on Jan 15, 1978

Issued for : The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department feels privileged to issue two stamps to commemorate this great adventure.

Description of Design : The design of 25 paise stamp is vertical and shows a climber crossing crevice on a snow ladder. The design of 100 paise stamp is horizontal and shows the Indian National Flag very near the Summit.

Colour : Multi–colour

Type : Stamps, Postal Used

Denomination : 25 & 100 Paise

Overall size : 3.91 X 2.90 cms.

Printing size : 3.55 X 2.54 cms.

Perforations : 13 X 13

Watermark : Printed on unwatermarked adhesive stamp paper

Number Printed :
25 P. – 30,00,000
100 P. – 20,00,000

Number per issue sheet : 35

Printing process : Photogravure

Designed and printed at : India Security Press

About : 

• Thirty-first of May 1977 was a proud day for Indian Mountaineering when two climbers of the Army Mountaineering Expedition stood near the top of Kanchenjunga (28,146 ft), the highest mountain in India and third highest in the world.
• Three attempts made in 1929, 1930 and 1931 had already failed and five lives lost. In 1955, a British Expedition made the first climb of the mountain from the easier Nepal side.
• The Indian Expedition of 1977 made a break with the past and planned a pre-monsoon instead of a post-monsoon climb though warned by the experts that it would not be possible to penetrate the narrow steep valley of Zemu before the month of May and the climbing season would be short and stormy. The Expedition made history by forcing its way through heavy snow to reach its Base Camp (16,200 ft) in March.
• After intense efforts and arduous climbing lasting two months the mountaineering team under the leadership of Col. N. Kumar succeeded in establishing a final Camp. Major Prem Chand and Naik ND Sherpa of the Army Expedition scaled the summit of Kanchenjunga at 2.45 P.M. on 31^st May, 1977 and planted the National and Army flags very near the summit. As earlier promised to the Sikkimese Lamas, they did not step on the summit but stopped six feet short of it.

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Issued by Sweden

Issued on Jan 23, 1974

Issued for : Skiing

Picture : Several events of Skiing in Sweden. 65o – Ski Jump, 65o – Cross-country race, 65o – Relay race, 65o – Slalom & 65o – Women’s cross-country race.

Colour : 65o – Slate Green, 65o – Violet Blue, 65o – Slate Green, 65o – Dark Carmine & 65o – Violet Blue.

Type : Stamps, Postal Used

Watermark : No

Denomination : 65 Öre each

Perforation : 12½ Horizontal

Printing Process : Engraved

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Issued by France

Issued on Jan 27, 1968

Issued for : The 10^th Winter Olympic Games held at Grenoble on February 6 to 18, 1968.

Picture : Different Events at 10^th Winter Olympic Games : Ski Jump, Ice Hockey, Olympic Torch, Woman Figure Skater, Slalom Skiing

Colour : 30 + 10c – Vermilion, Gray & Brown, 40 + 10c – Lilac, Lemon & Bright Magenta, 60 + 20c – Dark Green, Orange & Bright Violet, 75 + 25c – Bright Pink, Yellow Green & Black, 95 + 35c – Blue, Bright Pink & Red Brown

Type : Semi–Postal Stamps, Mint condition

Denomination : 30 + 10, 40 + 10, 60 + 20, 75 + 25 & 95 + 35 Centimes

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