Hamirpur has massive potential in sports and more facilities will be added at SAI’s National Centre Excellence in this Himachal Pradesh district, said Union Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur on Friday. Thakur, who hails from Hamirpur, inaugurated the badminton court, mats hall, judo hall and boxing hall at the Sports Authority of India‘s (SAI) NCOE at Anu.

Thakur said that with the availability of modern facilities at the centre of Excellence, better training will be imparted to aspiring athletes.

He said that the NCOE will be expanded and, if land is available, international level facilities will be provided here for at least 20 major sports, besides hostel facilities.

He said that about Rs 3200 crore will be spent on sports facilities in the next five years in India under the Khelo India initiative.

Referring to the synthetic track and other sports facilities in Anu, Thakur said that local entrepreneurs, volunteers, sports lovers and prominent people of the society must come forward to encourage sportspersons.

All these people together can conduct sports activities better through an organization and help the players in one way or other to develop sports culture in the district, he said.

Advising the young players to work hard, Thakur said that they should prepare as per the international standards. Earlier, the minister paid tributes to the architect of the Indian constitution, Dr. BR Ambedkar, and recalled his contribution to the country.