Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur said on Saturday that the Union government will take initiative to open one sports science centre each for eight districts of Karnataka.
Speaking after inaugurating a sports science centre of the government at Mahatma Gandhi District Stadium at Ajjarakadu in Udupi, the Minister also promised that the demand for an FM radio station in Udupi will be considered.
Mr. Thakur said that after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, the annual budget for sports which used to be ₹864 crore witnessed a big jump. The annual sports budget rose to ₹3,100 crore in 2022-23. The research-based new technology in sports training will promote many achievers in the days to come. ‘‘Science that entered the Indian sporting eco-system has brought a transformative revolution’‘, the Minister said.
He said various sports center of excellence have been readied under the Khelo India project. “India is on the path of becoming a sporting power hub,’‘ he said.
In 2014, the ongoing sport projects were worth close to ₹634 crore. As of today, there are ₹2,700 crore sports infrastructure projects which are going on across the country, Mr. Thakur said.
Karnataka Sports Minister K.C. Narayana Gowda, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje, and Udupi MLA K. Raghupathi Bhat were present.
