BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh is on a mission to nurture more Olympic medallists like Vivek Sagar, who was part of the recent bronze winning Indian hockey team. With 15 existing hockey turfs and four more proposed, the state is all set to create new benchmarks in training the players.
Experts agree that to attract youth towards sports, the primary requirement is to develop high-class infrastructure and facilities which could nurture a competitive culture. While hockey is trying to regain its long-lost glory, the sport is finding a home in Madhya Pradesh's ambitious sports programme.
Medal at recently concluded Tokyo Olympics has certainly given a boost to hockey, but when it comes to infrastructure, there are still very few states in India with proper turfs and other facilities.
MP is the only state in the country, which has developed 15 hockey astro turfs in Bhopal (4), Jabalpur (1), Gwalior (4), Betul (1), Seoni (1), Damoh (1), Hoshangabad (1), Shivpuri (1) and Mandsaur (1). Sports department has developed 11 hockey turfs while 4 have been set up by SAI, LNIPE and railway. Most of these hockey turfs have come up in the last one decade, including a blue turf in SAI (Sports Authority of India), Bhopal. The bluecoloured turf is currently in use in very few cities like Bangalore and Bhubaneshwar. Sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia said, MP has proved that it has the best of sporting facilities.
"When I joined the department, officials of the sports department and I chalked out a plan to put the state on the national map. We started with the opening of a hockey academy in Gwalior with a hockey turf," said Scindia and added, "Gradually, we started bringing hockey turfs to different cities. Today, we are the state with the highest numbers of hockey turfs.” She added: “Players like Vivek Sagar are born when there are ample facilities and infrastructure. Madhya Pradesh has done it in the past one decade.”
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