Central government ready to set up 'High Altitude Sports Training Centre' near Dharamsala: Thakur

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has said that the central government is keen on building a state-of-the-art ‘High Altitude Sports Training Centre” here provided the Himachal Pradesh government allots them to land.

Thakur, who is a Member of Parliament from the state said that special efforts are being made to identify Himachal Pradesh as a ”sports hub” and world-class facilities would be created in every district of the state.

”The central government is ready to set up a ‘National High Altitude Sports Training Centre’ near Dharamsala if the state government provides the required land for it,” Thakur said during a media conference in Dharamsala on Sunday. ”We will try to improve and expand sports facilities in Dharamsala in near future. We shall also work to bring more sports events to the city in near future,” said Thakur, who is also the union I&B minister said.

Thakur said that the Narendra Modi Government is working hard for the upliftment of the standard of sports in the country with all the elite athletes being helped with the best training facilities in India as well as abroad.

India won an unprecedented seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics including the first individual gold medal in athletics in form of javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra. Thakur, a former BCCI president also cited the example of how he played his part in having one of the best cricket stadiums in Dharamsala.

”Dharamsala is my second home. I used to visit this place frequently and even before joining politics, I worked to develop the city as a world-class cricketing center,” he said.

Thakur feels that air connectivity in recent years has only helped in making Dharamsala a sporting destination.