The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday approved tabling of the Punjab Sports University legislation in the monsoon session.Overruling the Chief Minister’s objections, the Cabinet also decided to name the university as Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Sports and Science University, after Captain Amarinder’s grandfather in recognition of the latter’s contribution to the promotion of Sports.The suggestion to name the university after Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was made by Rana Gurmit Sodhi. Though the Chief Minister was not in favour initially, he eventually gave in to the pressure of his Cabinet colleagues, and a unanimous decision on the same was taken.It may be recalled here that the Chief Minister had announced the decision to set up this university in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in his speech on June 19, 2017. Subsequently, a steering committee had been set up under the chairmanship of Olympian and Member International Olympic Committee Randhir Singh to finalise the modalities to establish this sports educational institute of international eminence.
The Punjab Cabinet on June 6, 2019 approved the Punjab Sports University Ordinance-2019, paving the way for the establishment of the university. Subsequently, a notification in this regard had also been issued on July 22 this and the academic session would commence from September 1, 2019, as decided by the steering committee in its meeting presided over by Captain Amarinder Singh last month.The university, a flagship project of the Chief Minister, is being set up to promote education in the areas of sports sciences, sports technology, sports management and sports coaching. It will focus on education, training and research in areas related to sports based on high standard infrastructure, besides offering professional and academic leadership to other institutions in the field of physical education and sports sciences.The university will also serve as a Centre of excellence for the elite and other talented sportspersons of all sports and innovations to carry out, endorse and propagate research. It would also generate capabilities for the development of knowledge skills and competencies at various levels in the field of sports technology and high-performance training for all sports and games.