Greater thrust to sports: Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh Managing Director

Kurnool: Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) Vice-Chairman (VC) and Managing Director (MD) N Bangarraju said on Monday that the State government has been giving a big boost to sports. He gave a call to people especially students to show interest in playing sports.

Speaking to the media at state guest house here on Monday, the SAAP MD said that the government had issued a GO to appoint coaches to give training to students, distribution of sports kits and other necessary equipment for encouraging sports in the State. He stated that all the properties pertaining to sports worth Rs 15,000 crore were situated in Hyderabad.

Despite constraints, the government is taking steps to develop sports in all 13 districts, the SAAP VC said and informed that the government has sanctioned necessary funds for setting up NTR Sports Development Centres in all 175 Assembly constituencies. He said more than 100 coaches have been appointed for providing training to various sports in all districts.

So far, coaching activities have been started at 30 NTR Sports Development Centres, in which, Kurnool stands first, he appreciated. He further said that the government is planning to set up 6 sports academies in the district. “We have identified 303 Zilla Parishad schools in the district for encouraging the rural students,” Bangarraju said and added the government will pay an amount of Rs 250 per day to those students, who are more interested in sports but financially weak.

The SAAP MD mentioned that the government has instructed for identifying sports grounds in Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Amaravati. “In Kurnool district also, two sports centres will be set up in an extent of 10 acres land. The government will develop 3,200 sports grounds in the State with Rs 5 lakh each, said Bangarraju. He announced a swimming pool for Nandyal and three tennis courts in Kurnool. District Sports Development Officer Jagannath Reddy and other officials were present.