In a major boost to the sports infrastructure of the city, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia inaugurated Delhi’s newly built world-class Hockey Astro Turf at Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Ashok Nagar on Saturday.

On the occasion, Sisodia said, “We have ensured world-class facilities to the players from a young age. It is now the responsibility of the coaches and players to make the country proud by bringing in medals and showcasing their talent at international events.”

Sisodia said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is providing all the support to the promising players so that no talent is left behind because of basic lack of facilities and finances.

Renowned two-time Olympic medalist, wrestler Sushil Kumar was also present at the inauguration.

“The project cost Rs 5.78 crore to build this world-class hockey Astro Turf.  We are also building four such world-class hockey astro turfs in Delhi government schools. This is the third ground and two other turfs in Ghumanhera and Jhilmil. Additionally, four 400 meter racing tracks and world-class swimming pools have been built. Due to such facilities, the performance of government schools in Delhi has significantly improved in sports, and so has the medal tally,” he said.

Sisodia said that the Delhi government has taken up the responsibility in providing every single promising player essential facilities for their sports training and preparation. “This includes building an international-style residential facility for sports people and a sports university. Even players who bring in gold medals worry about their admission but we will give these players admission in Delhi’s Sports University,” he added.

“Every state government offers financial support to sports persons who bring in laurels and medals. Five years ago, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that it is equally important to invest and support the promising players when they are sweating out in the grounds preparing for their sports journey,” he added.

“Keeping this in mind, we have started a scheme to help such promising players, in which annual amounts ranging from Rs 3.5 lakh to 16 lakh will be given,” said Sisodia. He also added that the Delhi Government rewards medal-winning players more than any other state.

Sisodia said that the world famous field hockey players like Dhyan Chand and Dhanraj Pillai have also come up from similar grounds. “Now we hope to see more sports talent come out of these grounds, and make our dreams come true,” he added.

The sports branch of the Directorate of Education is committed to promote grass roots sports and to provide holistic development to school students. With this objective in mind, various new schemes have also been introduced for intensive training of sports people, he said.

This includes upgrading the sports infrastructure of the schools, scaling them up to international standards, and providing facilities like synthetic athletics tracks, synthetic badminton flooring, Astro turf hockey ground and more.