Athletes should inculcate the habit hardwork and discipline towards achieving their goal, exhorted CBR Academy for Sports and Education chairman Chalasani Balaramaiah. Speaking at the State-level athletic and taekwondo championship at Kethanakonda, Mr. Balaramaiah advised athletes to aim for an Olympic Goal. “Any athlete who wishes to dedicate his or her life to achieve an Olympic medal should come to me. I will take care of him or her until the goal is achieved. They should come with a singular motto,” he added.
The academy has laid a new six-lane 400 metre track spending Rs. 15 lakh. “Earlier we had a 200-metre track. We have spruced up a 400-metre for the benefit of the athletes. Soon the academy will have basketball court and swimming pool,” said Mr. Balaramaiah known as CBR Prasad in the sporting fraternity.
Additional Joint Collector Chinna Kesava Rao appreciated Mr. Balaramaiah’s efforts to promote sports and games in the rural area. “I gave instructions to the District Educational Officer to convene a meeting in which some of the requests made by Mr. Balaramaiah will be discussed. He wants to involve the schools in big way,” he added. He compared CBR Academy for Sports and Academy to Rural Development Trust at Anantapur. “RDT, thanks to the Fr. Ferrer family, has become a sporting hub in the Rayalaseema region. Similarly, CBR Academy will emerge as one (a hub) in coastal Andhra”.
Regional Deputy Director G. Chinnaiah asked parents to encourage their wards in taking up sports and games to remain healthy. “They should play an important role in making their children physically active. The ill-health among children and youngsters is due to lack of physical exercises”.
He felt bad that many athletes who joined the academy left owing to the stringent rules and regulations. “Athletes, who cannot wake up early morning for the training, will never succeed. If they cannot sweat for two or three hours a day, they can never make it big in competitive sports,” said Mr. Chinnaiah.
As many as 750 athletes both in athletics and taekwondo took part in the colourful march-past. District Sports Development Officer P. Ramakrishna, SAAP technical consultant N.C.Mohan and others took part in the meeting.
