Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin has said a ‘Mega Sports City’ will be established near Chennai, to give world-class training for sports persons.
Speaking in the Assembly, he said four Olympic Academies will be established, one in each region of the State. He said, all the 234 Assembly Constituencies will have a sports stadium each, at a cost of 3 crore rupees per stadium.
The government has been taking steps to bring back Chennai Open ATP to the State capital, from where it moved out in 2017, Stalin said.
The Chief Minister said Tamilnadu government was also taking steps to host Beach Olympics. He also said that sports stadia in each of the Assembly constituencies across the State would be set up.
The 44th Chess Olympiad scheduled in between 28 July and 10 August would be hosted by the State government and players from 180 countries would participate in the event, Stalin said.
He announced that an arena exclusively for ‘jallikattu’ (bull-taming) events would be built at Alanganallur, Madurai.
‘An Olympic Gold Quest will be implemented for Rs 25 crore to guide sportspersons from Tamilnadu to win medals in international sports competitions like the Olympics,’ the Chief Minister told the Assembly.
A boxing academy in North Chennai with facilities for other sports like volleyball, badminton, kabaddi and a gym will be built at an outlay of Rs 10 crore.
Hosting international sports events would help bring fresh investments into sports sector. It would also give tourism a fillip, the CM said.