By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: In a major boost to sports sector, an MoU has been signed between Odisha and Tata Steel Ltd in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to establish High Performance Centres (HPC) in Olympic sports, Archery and Sport Climbing.
Secretary Vineel Krishna represented the Sports & Youth Services Department while, Tata Steel was represented by Mr Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services Tata Steel Ltd. and Chairman of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation.
Odisha Tata Archery Academy and Odisha Tata Steel Adventure Foundation Sport Climbing Academy will be established in Bhubaneswar to nurture athletes in the disciplines. Regional Development Centres will also be set up for archery while both academies will also run grassroots programmes.
Led by experts, these HPCs will identify and nurture talents, provide top-notch infrastructure & training facilities and empower them to compete at national & international levels. These centres will train players scouted from sports hostels, state level & national level programmes and serve as hubs for aspiring athletes to realise their full potential.
The athletes will have access to the sports facilities of the Sports Department for their holistic development, which will include the gymnasium, swimming pool and India’s largest Sports Science Centre at Kalinga Stadium.
Chief Minister Patnaik expressed happiness over Odisha collaborating with Tata Steel for the endeavour and said that there is a huge potential for Archery and Sports Climbing in Odisha and in the country, and the new association will contribute towards creating a conducive environment for athletes in these disciplines.
