Arunachal draw roadmap for Mission Olympic 2032: Natung

ITANAGAR: The Arunachal Pradesh government has drawn a road map for Mission Olympic 2032, to groom sports persons of the state so that they could win medals and bring laurels to the state and the country, State Sports & Youth Affairs Minister Mama Natung said here on Tuesday.

Addressing an event here to honour the meritorious sports persons with cash incentives on the occasion of National Sports day, commemorating the birth anniversary of Hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand Singh, the minister said that accordingly the government would invest in the sports sector to provide extensive training to the sports persons in a few selected disciplines.

“Chief Minister Pema Khandu has already announced cash incentives to Olympic medal winners to the tune of Rs 5 crore for gold medalist, Rs 3 crore for silver medalist and Rs 2 crore for bronze medalist respectively,” Natung said and added that the government would leave no stone unturned to achieve it.

He said the state government in order to motivate the sports persons, has so far provided more than Rs 5 crore since 2016 and an amount of Rs 1 crore has been kept in the budget provision for 2023-24 for creating state-of-the-art sports infrastructure and honing sporting talents.

The minister added that the Centre has already started a national center of excellence, the third in northeast after Manipur and Assam, at Sangay Lhaden Sports Academy, near here, for the elite level players with boxing, weightlifting, hockey, wushu and archery disciplines.

“As many as 54 centers of Khelo India were approved by the Centre for the state for development of grass root level sports and out of which 41 are operative,” Natung informed.

He called upon the youth to stay away from drugs and engaged them in sporting activities to remain fit and healthy in tune with the Fit India Movement objectives.

Paying tribute to Major Dhyan Chand Singh who won Olympic golds in hockey during 1928, 1932 and 1936, Natung said that after the BJP-led NDA government came to power in 2014, his birth anniversary every year is being celebrated as National Sports Day to honour the legend.

Informing that the state government has prioritised the sports sector, the minister disclosed that several national and international competitions were organised in the state to boost the morale of state’s sports persons.

“Today our sports persons have developed skills to compete in various national and international events and bagged many medals. Since 2019 the state’s sports persons have won 319 medals in various disciplines including 81 national and international medals,” he said and added that three Wushu players from the state would participate in the Asian Games to be held at China next month.

We are confident that our players will not return empty handed from the sporting event, he asserted.

The minister added that Arunachal Pradesh would host the final round matches of Santosh Trophy Football tournament after 82 years in Itanagar, during the months of November and December, where top six finalist teams would participate.

As many as 41 sports persons of Badminton, Football, Karate, Taekwondo, Weightlifting and Wushu disciplines along with 12 coaches were felicitated with cash incentives to the tune of Rs 31.10 lakh, for the year 2018-19 on the occasion.

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