Adding another feather in its cap, Chhattisgarh has now become the first and only State in the country to have two international hockey stadiums —the latest one in Raipur.
With a capacity of 4,000 spectators, this is the second international hockey stadium with a blue Astroturf to come up in Chhattisgarh after the stadium in Rajnandgaon which was inaugurated early this year.
The stadium will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Raman Singh on the occasion of National Sports Day on Friday (August 29)— the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyanchand.
It’s a matter of great pride that the Sports and Youth Welfare Department managed to develop the stadium within a short span of six months, officials stated. While addressing a public gathering on the occasion of International Olympic Day on June 23 this year, the Chief Minister had announced that the work of under-construction stadium will soon be completed for its inauguration on birth anniversary of the hockey legend, Major Dhyanchand.
The stadium had been developed with an estimated cost of `12.5 crore at GE Road situated Sports Building Premises (Government Science University campus).
Sports and Youth Welfare Department, Commissioner Ashok Juneja and Secretary, Dinesh Shrivastava informed that the cost of the Astroturf used for this ground was around `4.5 crore.
A similar kind of Astroturf was used in london Olympics 2012. Besides, it cost around `8 crore for developing the Pavilion, Administrative building and Changing Room for players besides the Gymnasium.Speaker of Chhattisgarh legislative Assembly, Gaurishankar Agrawal will preside over the inauguration ceremony.
Special guests on the occasion would be— lok Sabha MP from Raipur, Ramesh Bais, cabinet ministers, Brijmohan Agrawal, Punnulal Mohale and Rajesh Munat along with Dharsiwa MlA, Devjibhai Patel, MlA (Raipur, North) Shrichand Sundrani, MlA (Raipur, Rural) Satyanarayan Sharma, Raipur Mayor Dr Kiranmayee Nayak, Raipur Zila Panchayat President, laxmi Verma, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, Arjuna Awardee and Olympian, Ashok Dhyanchand who is well known International hockey player, Vincent lakda (Raigarh) and the General Secretary of Chhattisgarh Olympic Association, Baldev Singh Bhatia. On the occasion of the inauguration, an exhibition match will be played between two teams of 16 national players each, including members of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medal winning Indian men’s side.
The Team ‘A’ will be led by Sardar Singh and Team ‘B’ will be led by Vickram Kanth.
Teams:
Team ‘A’: PR Sreejesh (goalkeeper); Gurbaj Singh, Birendra lakra, Rupinder Pal Singh, Kothajit Singh, VR Raghunath (defenders); Dharamvir Singh, Sardar Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Manpreet Singh (midfielders); Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, S V Sunil, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, Nikkin Thimmaiah (forwards).
Team ‘B’: Harjot Singh (goalkeeper), Gurmail Singh, Harbir Singh Sandhu, Gurjinder Singh, Vickram Kant, Vikas Pillay (defenders); S K Uthappa, Jasjit Singh, Devinder Sunil Walmiki, Satbir Singh, Harjeet Singh (midfielders); Affan Yousuf, Yuvraj Walmiki, Mandeep Singh, Talwinder Singh, lalit Kumar Upadhyay (forwards).