Bhubaneswar: In its bid to promote sports further, Odisha government on Saturday entered into a partnership with Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India to set up High Performance Centre (HPC) in Gymnastics in Bhubaneswar.
Vineel Krishna, secretary, Sports & Youth Services department from the state government and Keiji Kubota, deputy director, HR & Admin AM/NS India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Kyoto, Japan.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said, “The Odisha government is dedicated to the development of sports. Gymnastics as an Olympic sport is evolving and has always had mass appeal. Odisha has a pool of talent who under expert guidance and a holistic supports system can be nurtured to become international gymnasts over the next five years. I am delighted to see our state and AM/NS India come together yet again, this time to promote gymnastics. This partnership will go a long way in creating a vibrant gymnastics ecosystem in the country and help us identify and develop young talent for the future.”
The collaboration aims at promotion and development of the sport of gymnastics in the state. The company will also set up Academies in Puri, Jeypore and Rourkela.
As part of this agreement, the government will create and maintain the infrastructure for the HPC and Academies while AM/NS India will operate and manage these centres and train gymnasts, in particular women gymnasts, and provide coaching development and certification, and judge certification.
The Odisha AM/NS Gymnastics High Performance Center will be housed at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar for senior athletes participating in the ‘Elite Senior Gymnastics Programme’. The Odisha AM/NS Gymnastics Academies will be meant for the grassroots level athletes.
The HPC and Academies will focus on creating a robust scouting framework and developing talent from Odisha to compete at national and international levels with competent coaching teams, quality equipment and sports science support.
It will develop a gymnastics ecosystem with long term sustenance, with coach development & certification, judge certification and with a special focus on female gymnasts. The athletes will receive international and national exposure in addition to academic support.
Odisha has already set up Gymnastics Centre in Puri and Bhubaneswar and an additional centre in Rourkela will be operational soon. Gymnasts who have represented Odisha at national and international level have commenced their training at these centres.
Notably, Odisha is the only state to set up a number of HPCs in the country. Since 2019, the HPCs in Swimming, Shooting, Weightlifting, Football, Hockey, Sports Science and Athletics are operational and have produced national and international players.
