CHENNAI: In a big boost for athletics and shooting respectively, Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has cleared Rs 50 million each from the National Sports Development Fund for the academies run by Anju Bobby George and Gagan Narang.
Anju’s athletics academy in Bengaluru, under the aegis of the Anju Bobby Sports Foundation, will now get an artificial track, New Indian Express reports. The funds will provide a further fillip to India’s best ever long jumper’s athlete development programme. It bears noting that 15-year-old Shaili Singh, who set a junior national long jump record recently, is a product of her academy.
Anju, who runs the academy with her husband and coach Robert Bobby George, is now looking forward to starting work on the artificial turf, the daily further reports. “After the initial paperwork is done, we will get half the amount within a month,” she said. “As construction progresses, we will get the remaining.”
Rijiju has promised to survey the academy on September 27.
For Gagan, the assistance comes as a recognition for his vision of making shooting more accessible. “The vision for the academy remains the same – broad-basing the sport and make shooting accessible. Growing the sport at the grassroots level remains our main objective and hence expanding in tier 2 & tier 3 cities is always the plan,” he told the daily. “Shooting as a sport has been growing. From a mere 3,000 registered shooters in 2011, now there are 30,000. The support will help us in pushing the momentum further. There is a lot of ground to cover and I am hoping to do the same over the next few months.”
