Bhubaneswar: To promote grassroots sports, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated a state-of-the-art sports complex in Jeypore of Koraput district and 26 multipurpose indoor stadiums in 12 districts of the state.
Spread over 11 acres, the sports complex in Jeypore having a seating capacity of 500 spectators, has a natural football field and a synthetic athletic track. Also, it has a gymnastics centre with international standard equipment, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, two synthetic tennis courts and a basketball court.
Besides, 26 multi-purpose indoor stadiums have been constructed in 12 districts of Odisha to further strengthen efforts towards promoting a healthy lifestyle and creating a sports environment. The indoor stadiums have multiple facilities for sports like badminton, table tennis, yoga, chess, weight lifting and gym.
These projects have been implemented under the 5T initiative to develop professional sports in all parts of the state, from villages to cities.
On the occasion of the inauguration of these projects, the Chief Minister said that the sports complex in Jeypore will encourage the young talents of Koraput, Nabarangpur and Malkangiri districts in the field of sports. He said that this complex will play a major role in the development of sports in South Odisha. He further said “We are giving more importance to sports to build a talented youth society. This has made Odisha a unique place in the field of sports in the world today. Today all states are following the Odisha model in the field of sports.”
Highlighting the inauguration of the indoor stadium, the Chief Minister said that all these indoor stadiums will take the sports culture further in the state. This will create many opportunities for children, especially in the field of professional sports. Children from villages and small towns can participate in various sports competitions in large numbers and this effort will play an important role in developing sports culture in Odisha, he said.
On this occasion, 5T and Nabin Odisha Chairman Karthik Pandian said that all inaugurated by the Chief Minister today have been made with the money of the people of Odisha. He urged everyone to use and maintain the sports complexes properly as their property.
Attending the program in Jeypore, Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera said that the state government is making continuous efforts to take sports to the highest level and Odisha has been at the forefront as a sports-promoting state by building various sports infrastructures and providing better training.
In the program, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Sports and Youth Services Department, R. Vineel Krishna (IAS), in his welcome speech, said that Odisha has created a unique identity in the field of sports today due to the visionary leadership of the Chief Minister. “Due to proper implementation of 5T initiative in the state, Odisha has also achieved remarkable success in the field of sports infrastructure development,” he added.
Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena, Development Commissioner Anu Garg, Works Dept Principal Secretary Vir Vikram Yadav and department officials were present in the program.
Sports Dept Director Siddharth Das proposed the vote of thanks.