Haryana Government on Monday sought assistance from Netherlands for utilising such spaces for sports, recreation and social integration. Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij during an interactive session with a Dutch delegation on ‘Collaborative Benchmarking for Planning of Contemporary Sports Infrastructure in Haryana’ in New Delhi on Monday said, “Haryana Sports and Physical Fitness Policy-2015” has an expanded vision to enable athletes of the State to move to the forefront of international sports.
“Ultimately, if the open spaces in State are enjoyed to the maximum by the public, the cities will become more liveable,” he said while seeking Netherlands expertise to utilise public spaces.
Briefing the Dutch delegation on the broad contours of the sports policy, Vij said, “The policy aims at increasing participation of the residents of Haryana in sports between 2015 and 2020. It also seeks to redevelop sports infrastructure in the urban, semi-urban and rural areas to make the cities more liveable by using environmentally and financially viable, sustainable solutions for the benefit of the people at large”.
The Minister pointed out there were public areas in Haryana which had room for improvement to maximize usage by the public. The Netherlands has various examples on how the Government has approached this issue.
It is pertinent to mention here that about 4.5 million of the 16.8 million people in the Netherlands are registered with one of the 35,000 sports clubs in the country. About two-thirds of the population between 15 and 75 participates in sports every week. Football is the most popular sport there followed by field hockey and volleyball.
Tennis, gymnastics and golf are the three most widely engaged individual sports in the Netherlands. Vij said that the BJP led Haryana Government had been active in sports promotion since its formation because it recognises sports as a powerful means of enhancing society’s health and well-being.
The success of Haryana athletes at major international games and competitions, particularly the london Olympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, demonstrates that excellence is an aspiration worthy of focused and continued pursuit, he added.
The Dutch delegation comprised of Dutch Sports Officer, Infrastructure Officer, Representatives of Amsterdam Arena International, Royal Netherlands Football Association among others.