In a glittering ceremony, the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat inaugurated Rajiv Gandhi International Sports Stadium (RGISS) and released the Mascot of the national games -2018 at Raipur here on Friday. The national games of the 2018 would be hosted by Uttarakhand. The Chief Minister also released the logo of the national games on the occasion. The mascot of the games would be Monal.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that in last two years the State Government was successful in six fold increase of sports infrastructure in Uttarakhand. The State has set up four stadiums in recent times. He claimed that the State is emerging as a State with best infrastructure in the country. Rawat said that now it is up to the Indian Olympic association and the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to give due recognition to the State so that national and international games are organised in the State. Heaping praise of the sports department of the state, he said that the RGISS is one of the best international cricket stadiums in the world. The CM said that the stadium and sports complex of Raipur would be made of international standard and the Government plans to extend them till the bank of River Song flowing nearby. He said that the area would also be an attraction for the tourists. The sports minister of Uttarakhand, Dinesh Agarwal said that the Indian Premier league (IPl) Chairman Rajeev Shukla was present during the foundation stone laying ceremony of the stadium and at that he had promised that IPl and international matches would be hosted in the facility once it is completed. He requested Shukhla to fulfill the commitment. In his address the IPl chairman assured that the Ranji trophy matches would be played in the venue from next season. He said that he would try to influence some IPl franchisee to hold matches in the venue once the ground gets clearance from BCCI. Expressing concern on the failure of ONGC to provide promised amount of `50 crore for the RGISS, Shukla said it is unfortunate and he would raise the matter with the Union Government.
An exhibition 20-20 cricket match between the teams of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh was the highlight of the evening. In the match the visitors’ batted first and scored 120 runs after the end of allotted 20 over. The host team however could only manage 80 runs. Star cricketer Suresh Raina did not participated in the game however the glamour quotient in the match was added by international cricketers Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla.