Telangana aims for strong 2036 Olympics presence, says Sports Minister Srihari

Sports Minister Vakiti Srihari said the State is committed to building a strong pipeline of athletes for the 2036 Olympics through major investments, global partnerships, new sports bodies, mini stadia, para-sports facilities and athlete-centric welfare schemes announced at the Telangana Rising Global Summit.

HYDERABAD: Telangana Sports Minister Vakiti Srihari informed the select gathering at the “Telangana Olympics Gold Quest’ as part of Telangana Rising Global Summit near here on Tuesday that the State Government was determined to script a new chapter of success in sports.

Speaking at the summit, Srihari said that the Government under the leadership of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was dreaming of sending as many athletes from the State in different disciplines in the 2036 Olympics.

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“The Sports Hub with huge investments from sports personalities, industrialists was set up by the top officials of the Government towards realizing this goal,” the Sports Minister said.

“The Young India Physical Education Sports University, Young India Sports Authority have been formed to strengthen the promotion of sports from the grassroots level at the schools to State-level,” Srihari said.

“We have in fact signed a partnership with Korea National Sports University towards achieving this goal. Special emphasis is being laid on para athletes by setting up special training centers across the State,” the Minister said.

“The Government will be constructing mini stadia across the 119 Assembly Constituencies in the State besides setting up the Satellite Sports City spread over 1000 acres,” Mr Srihari said.

“We are keen to take care of the athletes by initiating many welfare programs by launching graded incentives, insurance policies and Guruvandanam schemes,” he said.

Among those who attended the summit include double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu, World Championship bronze medallist and star doubles shuttler of yesteryear G. Jwala, former India cricketer Anil Kumble, chief national badminton coach P. Gopichand, Telangana Minister for Minorities Welfare and former India captain Mohd Azharuddin, Telangana Government Advisor (Sports) A.P. Jitender Reddy, SATG chairman Shivsena Reddy, Special chief secretary Jayesh Ranjan, cricketer Ambadi Rayudu, sports journalist Boria Mazumdar.