Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Kollu Ravindra on Monday inaugurated the Oorja-CAPF Under-19 Football Tournament at the Railway Stadium here.
In the State-level tournament being organised by CISF as a part of Mission XI Million to promote football, 16 teams from various schools all over the State are participating.
Addressing the gathering, the Minister said a new sports policy would be unveiled soon and recently a notification was issued to recruit 100 coaches. The government had also decided to give big incentives to medal-winners.
Ten sports academies would be set up with the aim of grooming winners for international events. However, after the bifurcation of the State the infrastructure for conducting international games remained in Telangana. Plans were under preparation to construct a sports city in the new capital Amaravati.
To promote sports at grass-root level, the government proposed to construct a sports stadium in each of the 175 Assembly constituencies. Of the 50 taken up in the previous year, 39 had been completed and during the current year another 57, each with a cost of ₹2 crore would be taken up, Mr. Ravindra said.
Besides, 3000 school grounds were being improved with ₹5 lakh each and in a tie-up with MNREGS. To promote sports in rural areas too, 650 month-long summer camps were being held from Monday.
Inspector General, CISF, (South) Anand Mohan, under whose chairmanship the games are being held, said the State-wide tournaments, ahead of FIFA Under-17 World Cup, was being conducted by CISF in five States including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, two union territories. The Prime Minister's objective was to create 1.1 crore football enthusiasts and players through it.
Winners of the CISF Cup for boys and girls from Andhra Pradesh in the 10-day tournament here will compete in the next phase in Bengaluru. The final phase will be held in New Delhi.
A.P. Football Association president K. Gopalakrishna said the tournament would help spread awareness of football among a new generation and of late the rankings in men and women’s football at international level improved.
MP K. Haribabu, MLA P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, Collector Pravin Kumar and Divisional Railway Manager M.S. Mathur participated.
Participants in the tournament earlier went on a march past and colourful cultural programmes were presented as a part of the inaugural ceremony.
