Haryana sports minister Sandeep Singh said the government has so far developed AstroTurf grounds for hockey in 13 of total 22 districts in state.

He was at Gandhi Memorial National College in Cantonment as chief guest for a state-level opening ceremony of the first Khelo Haryana Games.

“The AstroTurf grounds were developed to provide better facilities to hockey players and more such projects are in the pipeline. Not just for hockey, we are trying to improve other sports facilities as well,” the minister said on Friday.

Singh, who is also the former captain of the Indian national hockey team, was responding to media queries in Ambala on lack of resources for budding players in Haryana.

Accompanied by IPS Pankaj Nain, director of the department of sports and youth affairs and other dignitaries, Sandeep said many sportsmen from the state have performed tremendously well at the Tokyo Olympics and the three-day event is the first tournament at such a large scale in state during the ongoing global pandemic.

“During the first wave of the pandemic, online training was provided by coaches to the players. This continued in the second wave as well. Now, these games are being organised on the lines of Khelo India so that their practice remains continued,” he said during his public address.

In Yamunanagar, state education minister Kanwar Pal kicked off the games at Tejli Stadium.

At least 9,670 players of the under-18 age group from across state are taking part in 20 sporting events in six districts.