Punjab to frame sports policy to unearth fresh talent

Chandigarh, Feb 3 (UNI) The Punjab government would soon announce a comprehensive sports policy to promote sports at the grass root level in a big way so as to unearth talent from the rural areas.

Presiding over a review meeting of the sports department, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said the new sports policy would envisage developing world class sports infrastructure in the state besides imparting training to the youth in different sports disciplines so that they could be groomed further for national and international tournaments.

“Under a new policy, job opportunities would be provided to the outstanding sportspersons of the state to check the sports drain to other states,” Badal who also holds the Sports portfolio stated.

He said concrete and out of the box steps would be taken to raise standard of sports in Punjab to make the sports persons internationally competitive. He added that efforts were afoot to provide modern infrastructure, scientific training and regular international exposure to the budding players.

He pointed out that four existing international hockey stadiums with latest astroturf facility would be upgraded besides constructing three state-of-art stadias in the state. He said that it was the endeavour of the government to upgrade the existing sports infrastructure to international level to attract the youth in sports activities.

Similarly, the sports infrastructure in the rural areas would be upgraded with the grant of Rs one lakh to each village panchayat for improving sports facilities. As many as 1200 villages had been selected to be covered under this programme in the first phase.

Likewise, it has also been decided to grant Rs 10,000 to sports clubs of each village for the purchase of sports equipment to encourage youth participation in sports. He also announced that the existing monthly pension of Rs 1000 to the international players would be substantially enhanced.

Badal also stated that the Punjab government would also hold a Four Nation Women Hockey Tournament in July on the pattern of the Punjab Gold Cup Men’s International Hockey Tournament in progress at Chandigarh. ”The objective of holding these international tournaments is to inculcate the sports fervour amongst the youth and to encourage them to participate in these events”, he said.