Punjab CM attends fourth Baldev Singh Memorial Kabaddi Cup at Village Khattra

Khanna (Ludhiana), February 27, 2015: For strengthening the overall sports infrastructure of the state, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janta Party government in Punjab has spent Rs 200 crore. A special fund has also been created for sports under which Rs 90 crore would be spent every year. A new sports policy will also be put in place for providing jobs to those sportspersons who bring accolades to the state on international level. Under this scheme, those sportspersons who get jobs would have to remain on deputation in sports department where he or she would train budding talent. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said this while attending fourth Baldev Singh Memorial Kabaddi Cup at village Khattra, near here today.

The CM said that for promoting Hockey sport, state of the art hockey stadiums have been developed at Mohali, Bathinda, Faridkot, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Sri Amritsar Sahib. He said that 10 multipurpose stadiums have been developed by spending Rs 60 crore in different parts of the state. 

CM Mr Parkash Singh Badal said that the successful organisation of 5 editions of World Cup Kabbadi has encouraged the organisation of World Kabbadi leagues at national and international level which increased its fans and followers across the boundaries. Adding he said that it could easily be judged from the fact that Kabbadi teams from countries like Sweden and Azerbaijan participated in this event for the first time in 2014.

The Chief Minister also said that the day was not far away when this game would also be included in Olympics as the state government were making persistent efforts for it. Likewise, he said that the state government was also duty bound to preserve the rich legacy of Hockey, besides other national sports.

For promoting sportspersons from grass root level and developing Punjab as the Nursery of Sports in India, the CM said that the Punjab Institute of Sports would come up in the state. He also informed that all 146 block of Punjab will have sports centres  that would be ultra modern and state-of-the-art sports, where training would be provided to sportspersons from Punjab.

He said that land for the setting up of these sports centres have also been earmarked in 20 blocks where construction would start soon. He also congratulated Dalmegh Singh Khattra for organising Fourth Baldev Singh Khattra Memorial Kabaddi Cup in the memory of his brother. For the overall development of village Khattra, a grant of Rs 5 lakh was announced by the CM.

Baba Zorawar Singh Baba Fateh Singh Kabaddi Academy, Fatehgarh Sahib won the cup and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh by defeating Mata Nasib Kaur Kabaddi Club, Farwahi by 37-24. The Mata Nasib Kaur Kabaddi Club, Farwahi was awarded with a cash prize of Rs 50,000. Jasmanpreet Singh was declared best raider while Gurpreet Singh Gopi Manki was declared best stopper. Both of them were awarded with motorcycles. Eight academies had participated in this tournament.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included Punjab Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa, SGPC Member Karnail Singh Panjoli, DIG Gurinder Singh Dhillon, DC Rajat Agarwal, SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill, besides many others.