E-Paper
Sports and Varanasi: Gopichand praises Modi, Yogi for infra boost in city
Gopichand was in Varanasi along with other former sports stalwarts and national and state sports officials to inspect the sports stadium, in Sigra, Varanasi
Indian badminton team chief national coach and former Indian great Padma Bhushan Pullela Gopichand showered praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for actively promoting sports, on Friday. He credited PM Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath with adding world class sports infrastructure to Varanasi and transforming the city.
Gopichand was in Varanasi along with other former sports stalwarts and national and state sports officials to inspect the sports stadium, in Sigra, Varanasi. The stadium is being equipped with world class infrastructure as part of a modernisation and redevelopment project.
In response to a query, Gopichand said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is interested in promoting sports and he is actively doing it. See, I think, when the prime minister of the country takes interest in promoting sports, everybody down the line starts to take sports seriously. You have a very active and inspiring chief minister. Together, it is a deadly combination. Together they ensured the transformation of the city of Varanasi and truly world class sports infrastructure is coming up here.”
He said that he would try his best to train Uttar Pradesh youths who wish to become badminton players, through the Gopichand Badminton Academy and will also come to Varanasi to train badminton players.
Varanasi smart city public relations officer S Nathan Sonthalia said that representatives of various athletics federations and sports authorities visited the Smart city office, and a meeting was held regarding all the parameters, flooring, sports distribution and equipment to be installed, furniture etc in the Sigra Sports Stadium under construction now as part of the Varanasi Smart City project.
After the meeting, the representatives conducted an on-site inspection of the under construction multilevel indoor complex, swimming pool, national center of excellence, athletics ground, multipurpose area etc.
Deputy director general (DDG) of Sports Authority of India (SAI) Sanjay Saraswat, DDG SAI Shiv Sharma, director of National Sports Science and Research Center Brigadier BK Nayak, chairman of technical committee, Athletics Federation of India B.E. Stanley, president of Uttar Pradesh Table Tennis Association Sanjeev Pathak, representative of Indian Boxing Federation Vikram Bhardwaj, representative of Indian Basketball Federation RS Bedi, and chief general manager of Varanasi Smart City Dr D Vasudevan and chief engineer of Varanasi Smart City Amarendra Tiwari were among those who inspected the under-construction stadium.
