Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik visited the project site of India’s first indoor athletics stadium in Kalinga Stadium complex, here Monday. He reviewed the progress of the project and inspected the work site. Naveen Patnaik expressed satisfaction over the pace at which the work is going on.
The indoor athletic stadium is being built in Kalinga Stadium complex at a cost of Rs 120 crores. It will be ready for use sometime this year. Incidentally this is the first indoor athletics stadium in India. “This facility will be a major boost for the development of athletics in India. It will become the hub to create champions in the coming years,” Patnaik stated.
The facility can also host national and international indoor athletics events. There will be residential facility for more than 100 athletes for full time coaching.
Later, Patnaik also visited the Tennis Centre. The centre court of the Tennis Centre is being constructed for hosting national and international events. The centre will have all facilities to conduct the ITF-run tournaments and Davis Cup ties.
The indoor athletics stadium and the tennis centre are both part of Odisha’s sports infrastructure development project which aims at transformative changes in the sports sector in Odisha, under the 5T initiative of the state government.
Projects to the tune of over Rs 300 crore are under execution in the Kalinga Stadium.
The Chief Minister also watched for sometime a match of the ongoing Women’s Football League. Later P:atnaik interacted with the women footballers and assured them all support for their career.
The chief minister met the Indian hockey teams (men and women) at the Hockey Stadium and inquired about their stay and practice facilities. The players expressed their gratitude for the support Patnaik has extended for development of hockey. Patnaik wished the players luck for the upcoming FIH Pro League matches. He also hoped that the hockey teams would be able to win medals in the Asian and Commonwealth Games later this year.
