Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated the Gymnastics High Performance Centre and the new Hockey High Performance Centre at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
The Gymnastics High Performance Centre is a joint initiative of the state government with Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India while the Hockey High Performance Centre has come up in partnership with Tata Steel and Tata Trusts.
The Chief Minister also presented a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to Odia gymnasts Rakesh Patra and Tapan Mohanty for qualifying for the upcoming Asian Games 2023.
Speaking on the occasion, Naveen said, “Odisha follows a partnership model for sporting excellence. With the inauguration of the new Hockey High Performance Centre and the Gymnastic High Performance Centre, Odisha’s sporting ecosystem has become even more robust, enhancing athletes’ abilities to compete and shine in both national and international competitions. These new centres will play a pivotal role in discovering untapped talents and nurturing potential medal-winning athletes.”
Dedicating Gymnastics High Performance Centre to the gymnasts of India, the Chief Minister said, “Odisha is committed to the development of gymnastics. I am delighted to see our state and AM/NS India come together in this regard.”
On the hockey high performance centre, he said, “Our partnership with the Tata Group for hockey development at HPC will help nurture talent and contribute towards producing elite players for the national teams. We have now developed a more open and holistic sports ecosystem with excellent and modern infrastructure to help athletes achieve sporting excellence.”
The Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High Performance Centre is equipped with advanced equipment and facilities to train both senior and grassroots level athletes. Six athletes of the Gymnastics HPC including one in reserve have been selected to represent India in the upcoming Asian Games 2023.
The Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High Performance Centre is a residential facility for boys and girls with classroom, gymnasium, kitchen, dining, physiotherapy and multipurpose facilities along with a practice pitch. The Hockey HPC programme that was launched in August 2019 now has 100 players including 50 boys and 50 girls.
Sports and Youth Services Minister Tusharkanti Behera, Development Commissioner Anu Garg, Sports and Youth Services Secretary Vineel Krishna, Deputy Director, HR and Administration, AM/NS India, Keiji Kubota, Vice-President, Corporate Services, Tata Steel, Chanakya Chaudhary and other officials were present on the occasion.
