Mysuru: Mysuru sports got a boost in the State Budget announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday.
Apart from sports academies for basketball at Vidyanagar in Bengaluru, swimming in Udupi, mountaineering in Chitradurga, a tennis academy also will be established in Mysuru at Chamundi Vihar stadium at a cost of Rs 1 Crore each. To develop water sports at Varuna Lake, government granted Rs 5 Crore. The project will be undertaken under PPP model. Fully furnished sports hostels will be provided separately for women athletes at a cost of Rs 1 Crore in each division which also includes Mysuru. To set up gymnastic facilities at Belagavi and Mysuru, Siddaramaiah in his record budget, allocated Rs 4 Crore and Rs 2 Crore each.
M J Charan, who is having nearly 23 years of experience in Tennis and a former director of National Tennis Academy, New Delhi said, “It’s really a good initiative on the part of the state government. The academy will really boost tennis in Mysuru. With the proposed Rs 1 Crore for the construction of tennis academy, we can easily construct six synthetic courts and also provide the much needed flood light facilities. Most of the higher level tennis matches are played under lights. Our players, due to lack of this facility find it difficult to get adjusted to lights when they are exposed to it in tournaments elsewhere. Once such facility is provided in Mysuru, definitely our players can start performing much better in the days to come”.
P Krishnaiah, In-charge Director, Department of Physical Education, University of Mysore said, “When I came to know of A and B grade job opportunities and cash awards to whose win medals in Olympics and Asian meet respectively, I really felt great. Such decisions will really help to promote sports in a long way. Apart from this, more people start taking up sports seriously and with this we can also see a healthy competition. The sanctioning of tennis academy, water sports and gymnastics is also good decision”.
