VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said actions would be taken for the development of all sports including cricket in Andhra Pradesh.
“Plans would be made for construction of another state-of-the-art cricket stadium in Visakhapatnam and games would be organised in a prestigious manner in the Aadudam Andhra (Play Andhra) sports festival,” he said.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to take the upcoming Play Andhra Pradesh sports festival as a prestigious event for AP. Officials must work towards developing cricket and other sports in the state. This, he said, would be an encouragement to the youth.
Reviewing the steps being taken for conducting the sports festival, the CM said at a high-level meeting here on Thursday that village to state level events should bring out the hidden sports talents among the youth.
Stating that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team would develop cricket in the state, the CM asked officials to expedite the establishment of cricket academies in Kadapa, Tirupati, Mangalagiri and Visakhapatnam.
Officials apprised the CM of the steps being taken to conduct the event at village, mandal, district, constituency and state levels.
The Chief Minister said, “While organising the event in a prestigious manner, special teams should be formed to conduct the event. Apart from providing good lodging and boarding facilities to the participants, ensure that all famous sports persons from the state take part in the event.”
Officials were told to work towards establishing a modern cricket stadium in Visakhapatnam.
“Once this is done, the present YSR stadium should be developed as a Centre of Excellence for Sports,” he said.
Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy, principal secretary (youth services & sports) Vani Mohan, finance secretary Guljar, sports authority of AP (SAAP) chairman Siddharth Reddy and VC and MD K. Harshavardhan were present.
