Spotlight on sports

The Chennai Corporation has earmarked a sum of Rs 20 lakh to provide professional training for students in various sports.

The project is part of the Chennai Corporation’s special focus to improve sports infrastructure and training in schools this year. Under the project, 25 students from four different sports, such as chess, swimming, athletics and kabbadi will be selected at the school level.

 Once selected, the students will be put under specialised coaches and trained throughout their academic period. Students from the middle school level and above will be  selected for the training. The project is expected to cost  Rs 5 lakh. Food and other essentials will also be provided to the students during the training period.

“The main aim of the project is to catch them young and give them training that will enable them to take to larger sports events like state level sports meets. We are now in the process of getting the right coaches, which is crucial for the training,” said T N Venkatesh, Joint Commissioner (Education), Corporation of Chennai.

In chess, 25 students have been selected from various Corporation schools in the city. The Corporation has tied up with the Tamil Nadu Chess Association, which will train the students for nine months. In the other three sports, the students and the coaches are yet to be identified.

In order to improve the sports infrastructure, the Corporation has already identified a total of 30 schools to create parks and play areas.

Out of this, 10 have almost been completed. “In some areas identification of the necessary site for the play area is becoming the challenge. But the project has been hugely successful in the schools where the project has been completed. Now more students have joined at the elementary level in these schools,” said the Joint Commissioner (Education), Corporation of Chennai.

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The New Indian Express
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