Odisha gets five new sports centres

Bhubaneswar, Feb 25 (IANS) To promote sports like badminton, athletics, weightlifting and football, the Odisha government launched five high-performance centres at Kalinga Stadium, here on Monday.The centres dedicated to badminton by Dalmia Bharat and Pullela Gopichand Badminton Foundation; athletics by Reliance Foundation, Athletics Federation of India and International Association of Athletics Federation; weightlifting by KJS Ahluwalia and Tenvic Sports; football by All India Football Federation and Odisha sports development and promotion company; and sports management by the Xavier-Emlyon Business School and KJS Ahluwalia were inaugurated.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also inaugurated the wall climbing sports and felicitated 162 outstanding sportspersons from the state with cash awards."Today is a historic day for sports development in Odisha. We understand how beneficial the opening of these high-performance centres is to a sportsman as well as the nation. "I am delighted to dedicate these centres to the sports loving people of Odisha. I thank every one of you associated with this initiative and for joining us in the journey of making Odisha- the sports destination of India," said the Chief Minister.
--IANS cd/rs/pcj