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In a grand opening ceremony on Monday, Chattisgarh’s first international astroturf hockey stadium has been inaugurated in Rajnandgaon. The estimated cost of the stadium is Rs. 22 crores.
Governor Shekhar Dutt and Chief Minister Raman Singh declared the stadium open to public, which is spread over an area of nearly 9.5 acres.
The occasion was graced by a match between Governor’s XI and CM’s Xi, which comprised of some international players including the likes of Indian Hockey skipper Sardar Singh, Harjot Singh, Affan Yousuf, Lalit Upadhyay among others.
“Hockey is our national game. Even before India attained freedom, Indian sports-persons made the country proud by performing excellently well in many world-class hockey tournaments,” the Governor said.
“Right from rural areas of state to urban areas, better facilities will have to be put in place to provide better training to hockey players of the state,” he added.
Raman Singh said, “with the support of public, construction of the first international hockey stadium of state has been completed within the record period of 18 months.”
“The hockey players of the state definitely have a bright prospect and government is eager to provide them all sorts of facilities, so that the sports talents in state is trained well to glorify the name of the country at the international level in the field of hockey,” he added.
The Chief Minister further added that collective efforts are required to get Indian hockey back to its glory days.
The CM further ensured that the construction of new Astroturf stadium in Raipur and Bilaspur will be completed soon, with Raipur scheduled to be completed as soon as next month, while the Bilaspur stadium will be completed by the month of April.
