CHENNAI: Hosting international and national competitions across disciplines, taking sport to the grassroots, creating a foundation to collect CSR funds, upgrading sporting facilities, supporting sportspersons through various revamped schemes were some of the talking points of an informal interaction with Udhayanidhi Stalin, Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development of Tamil Nadu, here on Wednesday.
The sports minister said that the government is planning to start a ‘TN Champions Foundation’ that will help them raise funds through CSR donations. “The Tamil Nadu government will rope in MS Dhoni as brand ambassador of ‘TN Champions Foundation’ and it will will be a public-private partnership venture, where companies can donate their CSR funds. I appeal to all corporate houses in TN to contribute generously. The fund will help us host international events in Tamil Nadu,” said Udhayanidhi.
Asian Champions Trophy could be one such major event the city would host in the second half of the year. “We will be hosting the Asian hockey championship in August,” said Udhayanidhi adding that Hockey India officials have already visited Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium and has asked for upgrading a few facilities. “We recently allocated Rs 1.5 crore for refurbishing the turf and we will be upgrading a few other facilities to meet international standard,” he said. The city will be hosting an international hockey event for the first time since 2008. Apart from hockey, the state is set to host Squash World Cup, an ATP tour event and Asian Beach Games.
Udhayanidhi said that they would want to host national events as well. The TN sports ministry is in talks with the centre to organise multi-discipline competitions. “We have asked the Prime Minister to allot the Khelo India Games to Tamil Nadu next year. We are also planning to host the Asian Beach Games,” he said. “We have also told the sports ministry (Centre) that Tamil Nadu is ready to host any national level multi-discipline event if allotted. We are in constant touch with them.” He said that the state can host any event, even at a short notice. He cited the example of the Chess Olympiad. “It would take at least two years to prepare, but we organised it in four months time. We are capable of hosting any international event,” he said.
The ministry is giving a lot of emphasis on the scientific side of sport as well. There will be a new state of the art sports science centre at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium with all amenities. The facility will help in rehabilitation and the strength and conditioning aspects as well. The minister said it will be completed soon.
Udhayanidhi also emphasised on the need to streamline state associations as well. “We have to streamline sports associations in Tamil Nadu,” he said, pointing out that many have multiple factions and a lot of cases are pending in the court. “It was really disappointing to see just a few hundred fans turn up for the recent international football friendly at the Nehru Stadium. After the event, I spoke to the warring federation officials. The issue can’t be sorted out overnight. I want to engage all the stakeholders.”
The minister touched upon the sports schemes. “The fund allocation has been increased from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh per athlete. The number of beneficiaries will increase from 12 to 25. We are also sanctioning 60% of the amount as advance. We have reformed the committee that picks athletes for the schemes. Prominent sportspersons will now be part of the committee.”
On developing infrastructure in the state, he said “I recently visited a village in Salem where I was in awe of a mini multi-purpose playground developed and maintained by the public. It was constructed at the cost of Rs 2.5 lakh. We are looking to follow the same model and develop playgrounds in all panchayats.”
He is also looking into complaints of students, who have said that PT period is being used to teach other subjects. “We have given clear instructions to schools not to use PT period for other subjects. We received plenty of complaints directly from the students. We want to create a sports culture and it has to start at the school level.”