Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur said here on Friday that within the next three months 1,000 Khelo India centres will start in the country.
“In these centers, national level players will be given jobs,” he announced.
Addressing women players at the KD Singh Babu Stadium here, Thakur said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has increased the sports budget by three times from Rs 864 crore in 2013 to Rs 2,400 crore.
He said that the prime minister’s vision is to play Khelo India, Youth Games, University Games and Winter Games and the budget of Khelo India has been increased by Rs 400 crore.
The Union minister said that the participation of women in sports has increased under the leadership of the prime minister. Mirabai Chanu and PV Sindhu have inspired the girls and women of the country to do better in the field of sports by excelling in sports.
“Our daughters have made the country proud by winning medals in Tokyo and Rio Olympics. Players are being encouraged by successfully organizing sports competitions through events like Khelo India and MP Sports Competition,” he added.
Thakur said work is being done to enhance the sports talents of the country through Khelo India and this is the reason why now the players of our country are hoisting the tricolor in international competitions.
“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Government has done everything for the development of sports in Uttar Pradesh which has never happened before,” he said while lauding the UP government.
He said in the last Youth Games held in Haryana, 12 records were broken. This time 12 players broke 25 national records, out of which most of the records were broken by women players.
The sports minister said that India will never accept China issuing stapled visas to players from Arunachal Pradesh.