BHUBANESWAR: Staying true to its aim of making Bhubaneswar the sports capital of India, the Odisha state government has allocated Rs 2.6631 billion to the Sports and Youth Services Department in the 2019-20 budget.
Over the next year or so, the state is set to host international sporting events like Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships at Cuttack in July and state is also likely to be the one among the four venues for the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, which India is hosting.
New Indian Express quotes Odisha Sports and Youth Services Minister Tusharkanti Behera as having said that “apart from hosting international and national events, the Department will give more emphasis on development of rural sports and talent spotting”.
While Sundargarh district is the cradle of hockey, Ganjam and Puri districts are known for weightlifting and wrestling respectively, the daily reports.
With rural pockets having hidden talents which can be explored in the near future, the state government plans to set up four sports centres in four cities to support the new talents, Behera told NIE.
It is not easy to accommodate everyone in the sports hostel at Bhubaneswar, because of which the government has decided to lay astro turfs in 17 blocks of Sundargarh district, Behera added.
The government is not only focusing on infrastructure facilities in the twin city but even the existing stadiums in 30 districts will be renovated along with sports hostel facilities.
