KOZHIKODE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for promoting traditional sports in the country and said, “We should not ignore our roots.” Mr Modi, who inaugurated the synthetic track at Usha School of Athletics at Kinalur here through teleconference on Thursday, also asked all athletes to make Yoga a routine practice. “Sports has huge potential in this country. But along with pursuing career in all modern sports, we should also think of ways to make our traditional games popular globally. Just like kabaddi, we should bring local and indigenous sports to the forefront. Sports plays an important role in uniting us as a nation,” he said.
“Usha is a shining light of sports in India. She endured several challenges to reach this stage. Only a few in the country have been able to emulate her performance. Now, her trainees are bringing good results and have already made a mark in the international events,” he said. The Prime Minister stressed that the government’s aim was to give equal opportunity to everyone in sports and that it was committed to spot talents across the country. “A talent search portal will be launched to identify players from an early age. Whoever registers in the portal will be able to upload videos and other evidence for the coaches to spot them,” he added.
Union minister for youth affairs and sports Vijay Goel said that the Central government was ready to start a sports university in the state, provided the state government allots 200 acres of land. “The contribution made by the state to sports is immense. If the government allots the land, we are ready to make the state a sports hub,” he said. Mr A.C. Moideen, Sports Minister, Mr M.K. Raghavan MP and Mr G. Kishore, SAI regional director, were also present at the function. The eight-lane, 400-m track was allotted to Usha School of Athletics during the previous ministry by the then sports minister Ajay Maken in 2011 and the work was completed by the Central PWD with the help of the Sports Authority of India. The Central government allotted '8.5 crore under the National Sports Devel-opment Fund to the school to construct the synthetic track.
