6 of 10 rural sports stadiums ready

Anantapur: It is a good news for rural youth who are found playing cricket in rugged sandy fields and at the street corners. Facilities or no facilities, bats or no bats, the rural children are found playing cricket transforming a casuarina tree stem into a cricket bat and bamboo poles as wickets in a perfect rural setting with enthusiasm to play the sport and score felling the wickets.

The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (Saap) as part of its policy to develop and create sports stadiums and rural sports infrastructure facilities in every Assembly constituency is developing 10 rural stadiums by 2018 in the district. Already, six sports stadiums have been completed while another four stadiums are likely to be completed by the end of 2018, each at a cost of Rs 2 crores.

In the first phase the Sports Authority sanctioned four green field stadiums in the district in four Assembly constituencies at a cost of Rs 2.10 crores each. The four stadiums are coming up in the Assembly constituencies of Kalyandurg, Singanamala, Raptadu and Penukonda.

Also, Rs 8.40 crores for the construction of four more stadiums at Narpala in Singanamala constituency, Kalyandurg town in Kalyandurg constituency, Ramagiri in Raptadu constituency and Penukonda town in Penukonda constituency had been set apart. Besides, Rs 15 crores had been released for the construction of Kodi Ramamurthy stadium in Anantapur city and construction is in progress.

In all, 10 stadiums will be constructed by the end of 2018 December in 10 Assembly constituencies. The district has 14 Assembly constituencies. In a phased manner, all 14 Assembly constituencies in the district would be covered.

Already, two stadiums in Kalyandurg and Ramagiri had been completed and inaugurated while the one in Narpala is set for inauguration. The one at Penukonda has also been completed recently.

The sports facilities in the stadiums include indoor stadium, pavillion building, shopping complex, play fields for basketball, volleyball, lawn tennis, kabadi, kho-kho, cricket and 200 metre athletic track. Housing project director Chatta Veerabhadra Prasad is overseeing the construction of stadiums in the district.

District Sports Authority chairman and collector Veera Pandian told The Hans India that six stadiums, all in rural areas, built by the Sports Authority would boost rural sports and raise several sports men and women.

Every constituency in the district would get one as part of the government policy to give a boost to sports infrastructure in the district. He called upon all sports lovers to take full advantage of the sports facilities in the district and help groom rural sports persons and talent.

District Sports Development Officer Sreenivas told 'The Hans India' that youngsters in rural areas are highly talented and energetic. One can see young boys and girls playing cricket without sports kits. The rural youth can be seen using tree vertical branch stems as wickets and similar wooden sticks resembling a bat and playing the game with utmost dedication.

If the rural youth are given basic facilities, tool kits and required infrastructure, the youth would excel in sports, he opined. The rural stadiums in future will galvanise the youth to the stadiums and new talent will be emerging out of the rural heartland. The Sports Authority will do its level best to boost rural talent, the sources said.