Bhubaneswar, India, November 28, 2019: The President of the Indian Olympic Association, Dr. Narinder Batra, has spelled out the importance of having high-performance centres in various sports throughout the country in a bid for India to nurture and grow the sports. “I think the high-performance centre is a very important thing. India is a country which has won so many medals. Today, if any country wants to grow in sports, then they need a high-performance centre. In that centre you can analyse an athlete from top to bottom and then you train them accordingly but India had none,” Batra said. He was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, November 27, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, where a high-performance centre for hockey has been established. Batra is also the President of the International Hockey Federation. “So, this first centre in Odisha which has already started with the support of the government of Odisha should be appreciated,” Batra added. India is in the process of setting up high-performance centres in nine sports according to Commissioner-cum-secretary, Department of Sports Odisha, Vishal Dev. “We are in the process of setting up high-performance centres across nine disciplines now. Seven of them have become operational, out of temporary facilities and once the permanent facilities are ready they will move. Athletics and hockey are going to be based here (Odisha), while others like shooting, football and swimming will be based elsewhere,” Dev said. Source: ANI News Agency
Indian Olympic chief Batra calls for more high-performance centres
