LB Stadium to get fresh lease of life

​Hyderabad: In a major development that augurs well for sport, efforts are underway to reinvigorate the iconic Lal Bahadur Stadium in order to make it an exclusive ground for conduct of a multitude of disciplines.

The State Government is already in talks with corporate houses to partner in this project so that work could commence at an early date and all state-of-the-art infrastructural support could be put in place.

Stressing that a sports culture was being set in all over the State, at the behest of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and Sports Minister T Padma Rao Goud, Chairman of Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS), Alipuram Venkateshwar Reddy said here on Wednesday that the way forward that was set in earlier would start yielding results once the projects that are in the pipeline get going.

In what comes as music to the ears of athletes, four synthetic tracks have been given the green signal. The sanctioned tracks are coming up at SAI units in Karimnagar, Medak and Warangal besides one at Osmania University campus, which has been pending for long.

Another synthetic track has been mooted at Hakimpet Sports School, which has been producing amazing results on several counts.

In yet another decision that will draw appreciation, efforts were on to regularise the services of coaches, who are under contract. This would be in addition to employing more coaches so that every district would have qualified coaches and trainers, in course of time.  

He said they were constantly monitoring the condition of the ailing gymnastics coach Brij Kishore to whom the State Government had recently given Rs 25 lakh to take care of his medical expenses. 

He pointed out that they were looking into extending help in one form or the other to his two daughters, who are still pursuing education.

Reddy pointed out that they were toying with the idea of sanctioning a monthly stipend of Rs 10, 000 to 30 of the most promising sportspersons, cutting across all disciplines.

Olympic Association of Telangana President and Secretary Prof K Ranga Rao and Dr SR Prem Raj also spoke on the occasion.