Gone are those days when an athlete struggled to find the basic sporting amenities in the initial stages of his career, thanks to the policies of sports department and Sports Authority of India. Indian badminton’s chief coach and former All England champion Pullela Gopichand feels the same and said that Indian athletes no longer have to worry about the basic facilities that he had to struggle for in his playing days.
Gopichand was addressing a workshop organized by Andhra Pradesh government and said “All my life I have struggled to get basic sports facilities. I am glad today’s generation don’t have to struggle for this. Sports today has great future,” .
Sports is fundamental for discipline- Gopichand
“We need to ensure that kids taking sports need to be incentivised so that they can lead good life. Kids need to learn discipline and sports is fundamental for this.
“It is not necessary to create champions, but to create environment where everyone — kids and adults — enjoy sports. Remember sports increases a nation’s happiness index and improves quality of life,” said Gopichand who coached Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu to Olympic bronze and silver respectively.
Speaking on development of Amravati as a sports hub
“We are developing Sports City in Amaravati which will come in three phases and will comprise integrated sports hub spread in 20 acres with an estimated cost of Rs 1,400 crore, a multi-purpose sports stadium, multi-purpose training campus,” he said.
“Amaravati International Sports Complex, a Rs 60 crore complex, will also be built on 8.9 acres which will revolutionise sports in Andhra Pradesh. Phase I will be ready by 2021,” he added.
