Chandrashekhar Rao announces Sports City

Hyderabad:Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Wednesday vowed to develop a Sports City around Hyderabad very soon. He was speaking to sportspersons from Hyderabad who had done India proud at international events, including the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

 

Shuttlers Kashyap, P.V. Sindhu, Jwala Gutta, Gurusaidutt, Saina Nehwal and their coach Pullela Gopichand; shooter Gagan Narang as well as gymnast Aruna Reddy all of who barring Saina Nehwal participated at the CWG called on the CM at Secretariat.

 

The proposed Sports City should be in contention to host state, national or international events once in every two months besides being a good training ground to groom budding sportspersons, the Chief Minister said. He also expressed hope that one day the city could host the Olympics.

 

Stressing that Hyderabad has a lot of scope to host several sports and games, the CM asked the Sports Secretary to come with some good ideas in this regard. He said new avenues will be developed even as existing facilities are made use of.

 

The Chief Minister also agreed to a suggestion to allot the existing stadiums to talented sportspersons to develop academies. That could mean Jwala Gutta is closer to setting up her own badminton academy at the Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium in Yousufguda, Hyderabad.

 

The CM also announced cash awards to the players and their coaches Rs 50 lakh to those who win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, Rs 25 lakh for the silver medallists, Rs 15 lakh to bronze medallists and Rs 3 lakh to all the participants.

 

The CM also announced a cash award of Rs 50 lakh each on par with gold medal winners to coaches Pullela Gopichand and Arifuddin. He said he would write to the Government of India for IT exemption on these awards. These cash awards will be presented to the players during a felicitation function during Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

 

The Chief Minister requested all the sports persons who met him to participate in the the government’s promotional activities including the Comprehensive Household Survey all over State scheduled on August 19.

 

The CM asked the sportspersons to involve keenly in these programmes.Minister for Information Technology and Panchayat Raj K.T. Rama Rao and a host of other high level officers were also present at the meeting.