Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar laid the foundation stone of six squash courts at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, on Wednesday, in the presence of Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju.
Chief Guest Jaishankar who is himself a sports enthusiast and an avid squash player hailed the project and said he looks forward to coming and playing squash once the facility is ready. "India has tremendous sporting talent. It has able and enthusiastic coaches who would give time to building that talent. What was missing was the place where the talent could meet the coaches. I am sure this will be a model facility and moreover a catalyst to see many more facilities come up. We have to democratise sport, it must not be a privilege. Most of the sports in which we have done well is because it has been democratised. I hope in the case of squash, it is one step in that direction," he said in a statement.
The project has been sanctioned at a cost of Rs 5.52 crores across an area of 750 square metres and has an estimated completion time of six months. The facility will have six single squash courts, of which three courts can be converted as doubles courts using movable walls.
Rijiju said that the new facility is going to produce world champions going forward. He said, "To have a space in the National Stadium itself has its own significance. To have a space in this complex will give an edge to that facility. This 6-court squash facility is not only going to be world-class, but also a Centre of Excellence where we will be producing world champions and I am sure upcoming budding players will take maximum benefit of this centre. Our effort is that players should not have to look around for facilities, we will provide them the facilities."
Squash has been one of India's most successful sports at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, with the likes of Sourav Ghosal, Dipika Pallikal, and Joshna Chinappa winning laurels for the country.
The event was attended by various dignitaries including Sandip Pradhan, Director General, Sports Authority of India, Cyrus Poncha, Secretary-General Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) and Neelesh Shah, Director (Projects), NBCC, among others.
( With inputs from ANI )
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