Nellore: In a bid to nurture, groom and support sports talent to excel on the world stage, a sports village is being developed at Mogallapalem village near Nellore City. Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh has acquired 150 acres of land spending Rs 5.40 crore, allotted by the state government. Sports Authority of India has agreed to prepare the Detailed Project Report when SAAP authorities approached the organisation to design the model sports village.
SAAP is confident that SAI would also establish their Regional Sports Centre at the sports village, the second one in the South after Bengaluru. Thanks to the initiative of Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and his daughter Deepa Venkat, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had given his nod for the sports village meant to hold the 37th National Games in 2019 at a programme held in Swarna Bharat Trust two years ago at the instance of Ms Deepa Venkat.
Giving a boost to the plans of AP, Indian Olympic Association had allotted the 2019 edition of National Games to AP during their AGM held at Gauhati last year. In a bid to gear up for the mega event SAAP has sanctioned another Rs 4 crore from the government for levelling the ground, fencing and developing the approach roads besides power at Mogallapalem. According to Principal Secretary Sports and Youth Services, L.V. Subhramanyam, they intend to take the help of Mr Naidu to prevail upon SAI to setup a Regional Sports Centre at Mogallapalem. SAI has such centres across the country with good infrastructure to provide training in some disciplines which are popular to a region.
Mr Subhramanyam hinted about a cycling track as there is no such facility in the state despite large number of medals bagged by AP. He said that he spoke to the Director General of Sports Authority of India Srinivasulu to speed up DPR for Sports Village. Director of SAAP, M. Ravindrababu said they are proposing to build an ultramodern large outdoor stadium and indoor stadium of international standards at Mogallur. The advantage of the site allotted for the sports village it is adjacent to a reservoir which can be used to develop water sports, he added.
