OdishaLive Bureau
In its stride of Sporting excellence, Odisha in furtherance of strengthening its sporting prowess and capability of the sportspersons across the country, collaborated through the Sports and Youth ServicesDepartment with seven leading industrialists and signed Memorandum of Understandings last evening. In a special event named ‘Sports in Odisha’, these leading industrialists came forward to help promote the sports culture within the state by signing MOU’s for sponsoring respective sporting disciplines.
This move has now enabled the state to encourage and nurture talent in the field of sports from every single part of India. Every sport will have the necessary infrastructure and support services needed by an individual to realize their potential. They will now have a fair chance at training that will match international standards.
The following sports were sponsored by the following industries who have their own Foundation for Youth Sports. Athletics by Reliance Industries Group; Football and Swimming by JSW Group; Badminton by Dalmia Bharat Group; Weightlifting by Ahluwalia Group; Shooting by Aditya Birla Group; and Hockey by Tata Group.
Speaking about this move, Mr. Vishal Kumar Dev- Commissioner- Cum- Secretary, Sports & Youth Services, said, “It is great day not just for the state but for the country as well. This move was long overdue in order to fully develop the quality of sport and sportsmen in the country. By signing this MOU’s we have built a framework which will work towards sporting education, talent identification at grass root levels and infrastructural development at a global level.
Commenting on the signing of the MOU’s Shri Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister Odisha, said, “The signing of this MOU has created a long-lasting partnership which will result in producing sportspersons of world standards. But this partnership is more than just giving grants and funds, it will focus on extending the outreach of every sport in India.”
Present at the event last evening were dignitaries like Sh. Naveen Patnaik Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Chandra Sarathi Behera, Hon’ble Minister of Sports & Youth Services Odisha, IOA/ FIH President Dr Narendra Batra, Mr. Puneet Dalmia, CMD, Dalmia Bharat Group, Mr. Pullela Gopichand, PGBF, Mr. Sajjan Jindal, Chairman JSW, Mr. Gagan Narang, GNSPF, Mr. Anil Kumble, the Commissioner -cum -Secretary, DSYS and Director -cum- Additional Secretary , DSYS
Apart from the signing of the MOU’s the conference also saw the Unveiling of the World Cup Trophy by Hon’ble Chief Minister and FIH President ahead of the Odisha Hockey Mens World Cup Bhubaneshwar 2018
