Funds impetus for Anju Bobby George and Gagan Narang’s projects

It’s the end of a long road for Anju Bobby George and Gagan Narang. Fortunately, it is a happy ending.
Anju Bobby George with sports minister Kiren Rijiju and husband Robert
Anju Bobby George with sports minister Kiren Rijiju and husband Robert

CHENNAI: It’s the end of a long road for Anju Bobby George and Gagan Narang. Fortunately, it is a happy ending. Two of the country’s greatest sportspersons have been trying hard for some time to get government funding for their academies. Late on Tuesday, both received assurances from Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, who said the ministry wo­uld grant them up to `5cr each from the National Sports Development Fund. Prior to that, they were on hand to give presentations to an NSDF meeting. Rijiju even tweeted out about funds being allotted to Anju.

Anju’s athletics academy in Bengaluru, under the aegis of the Anju Bobby Sports Foundation, will now get an artificial track. The lack of it hasn’t sto­pped her from coming up with the next big thing in women’s long jump — 15-year-old Shaili Singh, who set a junior national record recently. Speaking after the meeting, the relief was evident in Anju’s voice. “We were a­t the NSDF meeting. Gagan wa­s also with us,” she said. “We ma­de a presentation on our pl­a­ns and the ministry conveyed that the amount has be­en sanctioned. Then we met the minister and he assured us.”

Anju, who runs the academy with her husband and coach Robert Bobby George, is now looking forward to starting work on the artificial turf. “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. “This is a dre­a­m come true for us and we are happy this has happened. It will be a motivation for us to produ­ce results. The sports secretary and SAI director general too were present. We are thankful to them.”

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 said. “Shooting as a sport has been growing. From a mere 3000 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.”

This is the second time in less than a month the government is recognising Gagan’s contributions to shooting — he was recently awarded the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar. “Sportspersons are highly motivated individuals, pushing themselves to perform against all odds during their active career,” he said. “Our dream of giving back to the system that I got so much out of was recently recognised by the government who gave us the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar. This grant gives us impetus to further strengthen our system and support the work we are doing from grassroots, all the way up to elite level. I have been a product of the system and would like to thank the minister and ministry for this grant.”

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