Organising national games will improve sports infra: APOA chief
AP Olympic Association president RK Purushotham addressing a press meet in Vijayawada on Tuesday
Vijayawada: Stressing on the need of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between State government and Indian Olympic Association for organising national games in the state, AP Olympic Association president RK Purushotham said that full-fledged infrastructure facilities for sports and games can be developed by organising the national games in the state.
Speaking to media, he said that there is an opportunity to organise national games in 2027. So, the state government along with AP Olympic association should sign a MoU with the IOA.
The Central government is allocating thousands of crores of rupees for the organisers of the National Games through the Olympic Association.
The national games will be organised in Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya in 2024, 2025 and 2026 respectively. The organisers are undertaking works for development and modernisation of stadiums including other amenities.
AP contingent had bagged 27 medals in the recently concluded national games at Goa. The AP team secured 19th position by clinching 7 gold, 5 silver and 15 bronze medals in the games.
Referring to the organising of the National Games in the state, Purushotham said that about Rs 5,000 crore will be spend for development of stadiums and other facilities. New indoor and outdoor stadiums, swimming pools and other infrastructure facilities have to be facilitated in Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Kakinada to organise the national games.
HE said that “even small states have proper sports facilities, but AP didn’t have. All the state’s sports authorities have participated along with their respective contingents.”
However, AP SAP authorities did not attend. Besides, a majority of sports teams had reached Goa by flight, but AP teams travelled by train in the general coaches. The smallest state in the country Meghalaya team also reached by special flight with 500 sportspersons. Due to lack of support from the government, this sort of thing has happened,” he pointed out. YV Siva Kumar and others participated.