With Goa announcing its inability to stage the National Games-2018, the State government has pitched in to assess the feasibility of staging the mega sporting event.
A high-level meeting with Sports Minister Kollu Ravindra, Special Chief Secretary L.V. Subrahmanyam, Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh officials and sports administrators was convened at the Secretariat to assess the ground reality.
According to sources, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has started looking for alternative arrangements to host the event.
“The meeting was meant to assess the situation on infrastructure, equipment and standards of our teams for the event. As we have little time to prepare for the event, the meeting sought opinions and suggestions from the administrators of sports associations,” said SAAP OSD P. Ramakrishna.
All the association representatives pledged their support to the State government to organise National Games.
“In case if we are agreeing to host the event, the suitable time would be after Asian Games, which will be held in August 2018,” he felt.
A discussion was held on the availability of stadia, accommodation and other logistical issues.
Places such as Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Anantapur, Nellore, Kakinada, Eluru, Gudivada, Guntur and Kurnool were discussed as they have suitable outdoor, indoor, and swimming pools, along with facilities for water sports. Mr. Ramakrishna said a plan of action would be prepared after taking the opinion of all the sports administrators by July first week. The same would be submitted to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu later.
According to sources, an IOA appointed committee will visit Andhra Pradesh to assess the infrastructure in the next couple of days.
