Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam hails VDCA services to sports & games

Visakhapatnam: Cricket has been playing a major role in channelising the energies of the youth towards right direction, said Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam here on Friday.

Unveiling the portraits of founder-president of Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association (VDCA) C G Saldanha and its founder-secretary A Radhakrishna at the ACA-VDCA stadium here, Subrahmanyam said that he was glad to see growing number of boys and girls taking part in sports at the stadium.

He commended the service of VDCA ever since its inception on August 15, 1963 and paid tributes to the portraits of Saldanha and Radhakrishna at the programme.

Endowed with good infrastructure, he said that thirteen international matches including test and one-day matches have been played in Visakhapatnam.

The district association has been providing facilities for coaching youngsters and promoting talent in Visakhapatnam.

The ACA-VDCA cricket stadium, incepted in 1987, has conducted a number of national and international matches and is regarded by the BCCI as a venue for organising matches even at a short notice.

District Collector V Vinay Chand and president of VDCA said that a greater number of major matches would be held at Visakhapatnam in future.

Commissioner of Police R K Meena, who took part in the programme, appreciated the facilities provided at the stadium and highlighted how the sports play an imperative role in holistic development of students.

Vice-presidents of VDCA D S Varma and T S R Prasad also spoke. Saldanha and Radhakrishna initiated the District Tennis Association in Visakhapatnam and hosted all India tournaments in the district.

VDCA Secretary K Parthasaradhi narrated how players trained by VDCA, including women, reached national level in various tournaments.