OdishaPlus Bureau
• Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “Archery is an ancient traditional game of India. We will promote the sport in partnership with Tata Steel. There is lot of talent among our tribal children and hopefully many champions will emerge from this HPC”.
Odisha‘s High Performance Centre will now feature two new disciplines. In the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, today, a Memorandum of Understanding was inked between Odisha and Tata Steel to establish High Performance Centres (HPCs) in Olympic sports, Archery and Sport Climbing.
Odisha Tata Archery Academy and Odisha Tata Steel Adventure Foundation Sport Climbing Academy will be established in Bhubaneswar for development of athletes in the disciplines. Regional Development Centres will also be set up for archery while both academies will also run grassroots programs.
Led by experts these HPCs will identify and nurture exceptional talent, empowering them to compete at national and international levels and provide top-notch infrastructure and training facilities. These centres will serve as hubs for aspiring athletes to realize their full potential. These academies will feature players that are scouted from the state sports hostels, state level and national level programs.
The athletes will also have access to the sports facilities of the Sports & Youth Services Department for their holistic development, which will include the gymnasium, swimming pool and India’s largest sports science centre at the Kalinga Stadium.
On this occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, said, “We are delighted to collaborate with Tata Steel in this endeavour. Our partnership with Tata Steel for Hockey High Performance Centre has been exemplary and producing encouraging results. We have a huge potential for Archery and Sports Climbing in Odisha and in the country and with this new association we will be able to collectively contribute towards creating a conducive environment for athletes in these disciplines.”
Commissioner Cum Secretary R. Vineel Krishna represented the Sports & Youth Services Department while, Tata Steel was represented by Chanakya Chaudhary, Vice President, Corporate Services Tata Steel Ltd. and Chairman Tata Steel Adventure Foundation.
This is a unique partnership model between a state and a corporate that has proven to produce elite athletes in Hockey, Football, Swimming, Athletics, Gymnastics, Sports Science, Shooting, Weightlifting and now archery and sport climbing will further benefit from this partnership.
