Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, today, inaugurated the high-performance hockey centre – Naval Tata Hockey Academy (NTHA) to groom the best hockey talent in Odisha into future national and international players.
This elite hockey academy has been opened in Bhubaneswar as part of the three-pronged Tata Odisha Hockey Programme, a joint initiative of Tata Steel, Tata Trusts and Government of Odisha to nurture sports talent in the State, which is already being hailed as a cradle for the sport.
The State government sports hostels in Bhubaneswar, Sundargarh, and Rourkela will become the Regional Development Centres (RDCs), where experts engaged by Tata Trusts and Tata Steel will work with the RDCs to further enhance their efficiency and excellence.
10-20 grassroots centres will initially be established in Sambalpur and Sundargarh districts. The talent scouted from the grassroots centres will be recommended for admission into the sports hostels.
The grassroots centres and the RDCs will ensure the continuous flow of talent into NTHA. The government will help develop infrastructure in these regions to improve the quality of hockey players being fed into the RDCs and NTHA Odisha.
Young players from the community, who are enthusiastic and willing to work with children, will be trained and provided with career opportunities as trainers and coordinators in these centres.
Minister, Sports & Youth Services Department Tusharkanti Behera said: “Bhubaneswar is fast emerging as the sports capital of India. With the establishment of NTHA Odisha, youth from the State will get the best-in-class training on artificial turf from an early age that will enable players to compete at par with their international counterparts. This initiative will also help in making high-performance hockey coaches. Ultimately, this programme will increase the number of Odisha players in the National team representing India on the international stage.”
NTHA Odisha will be operated from the existing infrastructure that was set-up to host the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup in 2018 in Bhubaneswar. Access to the Abhinav Bindra Target Performance Centre, Bhubaneshwar, will provide the best sports medicine support to improve the performance of the players.
T.V. Narendran, CEO & MD, Tata Steel said “Tata Steel has always supported and encouraged sports as a vocation and a career. It is always our effort to nurture sporting talent by providing access to state-of-the-art sports facilities and rigorous training. Tata Steel has a significant connection with youth at the grass-root level through various programmes. I am confident that the academy will enhance the efforts of the State to develop champions of the future.”
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Ms Kalinga