MUMBAI: Seems like 'desi' is a real cool phenomenon. Cashing on the current flavour of the season, Discovery Channel will be presenting an exclusive preview of a film on Punjab's sports extravaganza, The Rural Olympics.

The special series celebrating the forthcoming Olympic games will be airing on Discovery Channel from 9 August to 14 August from 8 pm to 9 pm.

The first programme from the series, The Rural Olympics, premieres on Monday, August 9 from 8 pm to 9 pm and repeats on Friday, August 13 from 8 pm to 9 pm.

A part of the Channels special Olympics series- The Athens Games Special Week, the programme is sponsored by one of the official sponsors of this years Athens Games Samsung, informs an official release.

The Rural Olympics showcases an Indian version of the Olympics celebrated every February in the villages of Punjab. The fascinating event captures the passion and the competitive spirit of the people representing over 2,000 villages of Punjab. Over 1,00,000 people from the region attend this unique sports extravaganza every year, adds the release.

Commenting on the special series, Discovery Communications India director-marketing Aditya Tripathi said, "As part of the build-up to the forthcoming Athens Games we are premiering The Athens Games Special Week, celebrating this historic event. The programme The Rural Olympics reflects the true spirit of Indian sportsmanship."

The other programmes premiering at The Athens Games Special Week are: Marathon, the history behind the worlds most famous and gruelling race; Beastly Games, which unravels the complex industry known as the Roman arena games, in which wild, exotic beasts were exhibited, hunted and trained to execute animals in front of the Roman crowds; and Science of Super Human Strenght, which seeks to determine the limits of the human body.

Using a combination of historical research, re-enactments and contemporary and archival footage, the programmes highlight the dramatic similarities and differences between the original ancient pagan ritual and the modern Games, informs the release.

The channel had organised a screening of the special programme The Rural Olympics in capital in the presence of the cast of the film Lagaan - Raghuvir Bhura Yadav, Yashpal Lakha Sharma, Vallabh Ishwar Vyas, Raj Ismail Zutshi, Akhilendra Arjan Mishra, Pradeep Deva Rawat, Aditya Kachra Lakhiya, and Rajesh Guran Vivek, adds the release.