Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated Monday High Performance Centers (HPC) for weightlifting, athletics, badminton, football development and sports management at the Kalinga Stadium here. Also present were Sports Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, sports secretary Vishal Dev and other dignitaries.
The state government had signed 10 MoUs last year in November for different sporting genres and Monday’s developments marked a historic day in the field of sports in the state. The sports climbing wall which has been placed at the stadium complex last year was also inaugurated. The Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance center was inaugurated last week.
Speaking on the occasion, former India spinner Anil Kumble, founder of Tenvic Sports, who is supporting the weightlifting HPC thanked the state government before adding that work has already been started in full flow.
“We have already identified 25 athletes in two districts – Behrampur and Bhubaneswar. Soon we will be getting the other 25. We have already identified KIIT as our center and have also brought in renowned international Iranian coach Kasim on board to work with the athletes. There are some examinations going on right now, so as soon as that ends we will start our program,” the spin wizard added.
Former India badminton player and the coach of current Indian team Pullela Gopichand also expressed gratitude towards the state government and informed about their plans for the badminton HPC.
“We have planned for 10 courts (in first phase), gymnasium, cafeteria and a residential area for the players. However, the place is yet to be indentified but we are hopeful that we will get to finalise everything within next two months,” Gopichand said.
Athletics Federation of India (AFI) secretary CK Valson along with IAAF officials Ralph Mouchbahani and Naliza Van Der Schyff were also present on the occasion and said that they are highly impressed with the infrastructure and the facilities.
