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CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin said his government would boost the sports sector in the State and continue the ongoing efforts to make Tamil Nadu a global destination for sports. He was addressing the closing ceremony of the 44th International Chess Olympiad held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.
“We are working at the grassroots level to nurture the culture of sports among children and youth. We are going to commence district-level and State level sports competitions for the Chief Minister’s Trophy in 12 Olympic games and two indigenous games—Kabaddi and Silambam. This will help the State in identifying fresh talents and motivate the youth in making a career out of sports,” the Chief Minister said.
He added that his government has been working to revamp the sporting infrastructure in line with modern needs. “The State strives for progress in all spheres and sports is a very important aspect of that. I am sure that the Olympiad will catapult the sports scenario in the State to the next level,” he added.
Adopting the Dravidian model, the Tamil Nadu government has been formulating and implementing numerous schemes for making the State a leader in sports, the Chief Minister told the international audience.
“Recently, the State proposed a scheme to produce world-class sportspersons and Olympic medal winners from Tamil Nadu. It is called the Olympic Gold Quest Scheme and will be implemented at `25 crore.” he added.
“We will provide state-of-the-art equipment and training facilities to the sportspersons. Accordingly, 50 sportspersons will be selected and `60 crore will be spent on grooming them over four years,” Stalin said and added that cash awards have also been provided to those who have won medals in karate, squash, shooting, Tokyo Olympics, and Paralympics and fencing events. The previous year, 1,073 sportspersons were honoured with a cash award of `26.85 crore. Of this, a sizeable cash award has been given to chess players.
The Tamil Nadu government is well aware that sports play an important role in one’s overall development. As such, to promote sports in this State among the youngsters, mini stadiums in all Assembly constituencies would be built and international coaches would train sportspersons from Tamil Nadu. The establishment of two boxing academies in Chennai (in North Chennai and at Gopalapuram) and an arena for Jallikattu are among the plans.
The Chief Minister also said steps to host Chennai Open WTA International Championship and also the Asian Beach Games in Tamil Nadu are being taken. “We will continue our efforts in making Tamil Nadu a global destination for sports. We are also focused on taking our indigenous sports to the global fora. We are taking all efforts to ensure national recognition of the sport of Silambam,” he added.
Earlier, the CM gave away mementoes to India’s first grandmaster Manuel Aron and Viswanathan Anand. The closing ceremony turned out to be a social evening as events that showcased the rich cultural heritage of Tamil Nadu like Jallikattu were presented and impressive musical programmes were held.
A spectacular dance-drama event, ‘Tamizh Mann’ captured the sacrifices of freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu. Renowned actor Kamal Haasan gave the voice-over for the event, which was part of 75th anniversary of independence celebrations.
Earlier, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu welcomed the gathering and Arkady Dvorkovich delivered a special address. Viswanathan Anand, mentor of the Indian team; Sanjay Kapoor, president of AICF; and Bharat Singh Chauhan, tournament director, also spoke and they expressed their thanks to Tamil Nadu for grandly conducting the event.
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