DW BUREAU / Chandigarh
Haryana's journey from being an agrarian state to becoming the sports capital of India, as recently said by the Home Minister Amit Shah has been remarkable in many ways.
While, the credit for this fame goes to the Chief Minister Manohar Lal and his sports-friendly policy that despite being a small state the State players always top the Country's medal tally.
Eminent players like Golden boy Neeraj Chopra, another Olympics medalist Bajrang Punia and many others firmly believe that the state's player-friendly policies focused on giving special Incentives along with addressing the athletes' dietary concerns has certainly remained a big factor in encouraging players to shine bright at national and
international levels.
Meanwhile, the modern infrastructure established by the State Government has also played a significant role in making Haryana emerge as a sports hub. On many occasions, the Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi has also appreciated the dedicated efforts of the Manohar Lal Government to promote sports.
The commitment of the Haryana government to promote sports can be judged by the fact that Olympian Sardar Sandeep Singh is the Sports Minister. The Chief Minister believes that seeing him holding this position not only boosts the morale of the state players but they also know that being a player himself, special attention will be given to their needs.
Today Haryana has made a unique identity in the sports field. As a result of this, the State has also left its indelible mark by successfully organizing Khelo India Youth Games- 2021 in Panchkula.
With the aim of popularizing the sports culture among the children at the grassroots level, sports nurseries are being set up in the state. Around 1100 sports nurseries will be made functional in the state. The process of setting up 500 nurseries at departmental training centres and 600 sports nurseries in government and private educational institutions, private sports academies, and private sports training centres is in progress. Milkha Singh Adventure Sports Academy has also been established in Morni.
Apart from this, it has also been decided to establish one youth club in each village. So far, youth clubs have been formed in 4912 villages. Four sports hostels for players belonging to scheduled castes are being set up in Haryana. The construction work of the sports hostel at Ambala is almost complete and the construction of the sports hostel at Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad is going at
a faster pace.
To boost the morale of the players the present state government is giving maximum prize money to the winning players. In the Olympic Games, a cash prize of Rs 6 crore is given to the gold medalist, Rs 4 crore to the silver medalist and Rs 2.50 crore to the bronze medalist.
(editor@dailyworld.in)