Agra, Oct 25 (IANS) Students from 50 countries joined the United Nations Foundation Day celebrations here with a senior official demanding launch of a World Sports Organisation to promote cooperation among the nations.

The celebrations, with the theme of sports and global friendship, were organised at the Central Hindi Institute campus late Sunday.

Students from China, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, east European countries, Fiji, Trinidad, among others joined the celebrations which included folk dances and a kathak dance recital.

Chandra Kant Tripathi, the registrar of the institute, was cheered when he demanded a UN body on lines of the WHO and Unicef to promote sports.

"It was high time that the UN launched a World Sports Organisation," Tripathi said.

"This international body of sports should be managed by sportspersons only. Frequent sporting events in different countries would help minimise tension and confrontations in the society," he told IANS.

Culture critic Mahesh Dhakar, whose Mitra Society had organised the programme of serious talk interspersed with dances and music, said sports events had brought countries together and generally helped defuse tensions.

"A UN body will definitely help standardise sporting norms, hold periodic events and promote sports related health regimes," Dhakar said.