Vijayawada Division, among all other divisions in South Central Railway, conducts the annual summer coaching camp for youngsters regularly at the Railway Stadium and at Satyanarayanapuram stadium. This year, the camp is conducted in cricket, basketball; athletics and volleyball at Rail Stadium and football at Satyanarayanapuram stadium.
Around 100 youngsters are learning their basics from the senior players who represented South Central Railway in the inter-railway tournaments and meets.
“Rail stadium is the hub of the sports activities. Thanks to the support of Railway Board, we are making constant efforts to improve the facilities at the stadium. We have sent a proposal to extend the roof of galleries and we have taken up renovation work of cricket nets, athletic track and football ground,” said Arjuna Rao, Welfare Officer.
He said a billiards table was bought to enable the players representing South Central Railway and Indian Railways to practice. Mr. Rao said many talented players were employed at Vijayawada Division. “Both Lenin and J. Rama Rao represented India in archery. Players like K. Durga Prasad (billiards), K. Sampath (ball badminton), T. Dinesh and D. Kiran Kumar (shuttle badminton), B. Anjaneyulu (athletics) and S. Srinivas (100m and 200m) are some of the players employed in Vijayawada Division,” he added.
Mr. Rao said S. Srinivas had been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Games camp and he was certain to gain a slot in the Indian contingent for the prestigious Games.
Mr. Arjun said senior players like K.M.Chisti (cricket), Robert Kennedy (football) and Irfan (basketball) are imparting the nuances to the youngsters. The ongoing camp will be concluded on June 1 in which Divisional Sports Officer Kishore Babu will be the chief guest.
