To provide further impetus to sports activities and develop sports culture Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today gave principal approval for setting up of Sports Authority of Punjab (SAP) that will administer various centers of sports excellence in the state. Besides this, special Kabbadi stadiums would also be established in various districts.While reviewing the sports infrastructure and training facilities in the state, Badal approved the setting up of Directorate of Sports Authority of Punjab headed by a Director General and Governing Council to administer different branches of the authority. The SAP would be responsible to implement the vision of the state government to train the potential sports players free of cost and to develop sports culture in the state besides controlling centers of excellence to be established at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Hoshiarpur, SAS Nagar and village Badal.
Deputy Chief Minister further said that Rs. 100 crore have been earmarked for setting up of these specialized sports centers having residential facilities for the budding players. The centers of excellence in six districts would provide free training facilities to the players in athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, gymnastics, hockey, kabbadi, shooting and wrestling for which the SAP would get services of experienced Olympians and foreign coaches also. Taking stock of the required infrastructure, maintenance and training facilities in these sports centers Mr. Badal said that special hostels with all residential facilities would be set up separately for men and women players. The budding players under the age of 14 years would be selected for the sports centers to provide excellent coaching. Adding further he directed that ultra modern gyms would also be setup in such sports centers.
Presenting futuristic plans in the sports arena Secretary Sports Mr. Kahan Singh Pannu and Mr Manvesh Singh Sidhu Special Principal Secretary to Dy CM informed the Deputy Chief Minister that the SAP would tie up with the nearest academic institutions for imparting education of those enrolled in the centers of excellence. The authority would also provide free transportation facilities to the players for their study. He further informed that all modalities have been workout to set up the authority and the centers would be operational from the next academic year.In the meeting Mr Badal also directed the officers to identify stadiums in the districts that could be further developed to provide specialized training to Kabbadi players to develop this game at professional level. He asked the officer to chalk out the detail plan to hire professional coaches in each game so that the players could perform at national and international arena.