In order to contribute to the development of sports in Odisha and support numerous talented sports persons, the Government of Odisha and leading industrialists will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on November 12 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium.
In a special programme named ‘Odisha Sports: Creating Partnerships for Excellence’, these leading industrialists will come forward to help promote the sports culture within the State by signing MoUs of sponsoring one sporting discipline each.
The sports to be sponsored by the various industries are athletics by Reliance, football and swimming by JSW, badminton by Dalmia, weightlifting by Ahluwalia, shooting by Aditya Birla and hockey by Tata.
The MoU will express their intention to cooperate within the scope of their mandates and sphere of competences to work towards building a better sporting culture.
The move will enable the State to encourage and nurture talent in the field of sports from every single part of India. Every sport will have the necessary infrastructure and support services needed by an individual in order to realise their potential. They will now have a fair chance at training that will match international standards.
Commenting on the signing of the MoU, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said, “The MoU attaches great importance to the collaboration with these industrialists giving us yet another major support in the effort to promote the cause of sporting culture. We can now substantially expand the prospects of developing these sporting disciplines together and creating a hub that is unparalleled worldwide.”
Talking about this move, Minister for Sports and Youth Services, Chandra Sarathi Behera said, “We are extremely appreciative of this association. These sporting disciplines were shortlisted as per their performance and the number of youths interested in taking up these sports. With this association, we will now be able to promote and protect the core values of sports for the youth at a global level.”
Apart from the signing of the MoU, the conference will also see the unveiling of the World Cup Trophy by the Chief Minister and the FIH president ahead of the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar, said Director Sports and Youth Services R Vineel Krishna.