In encouraging news for the budding sportspersons of the state, union minister of state (independent charge) for youth affairs and sports, Kiren Rijiju during his visit to Itanagar on Saturday announced that Arunachal Pradesh will receive three centres of excellence (academies) for the sports. The three centres will cover the disciplines of martial arts, weight lifting and boxing. This has potential to revolutionize sports activities in the state. Despite the poor infrastructure, the athletes from the state have been performing remarkably well in various national and international events bringing glory to the state.
Also this announcement comes just days after the girls Sub Junior Football team made the state proud by finishing runner-ups in the Hero Sub Junior National Girls Football Championship held recently in Cuttack. Apart from the Sangay Lhaden Sports Academy, which too is in poor condition, the Arunachal Pradesh does not any world class sports academies. Therefore, the coming up of the three news sports academies funded by the ministry of youth affairs and sports will immensely aid the development of sports in the state. However, the state government should make it sure that no compromise would be made with the quality of infrastructure for these academies. Strict monitoring should be done to check the quality of works. The funds should be properly utilized so that the world class sports academies come up in the state. Often it is seen that even though the government of India pumps in huge money but the funds are mostly misused here.