Badminton academy to be set up at Kalinga Stadium in Odisha

A new badminton academy will come up in the premises of Kalinga Stadium with the support from Dalmia Bharat Group, said an official on Friday.

Dalmia Cements Bharat Limited has committed to provide Rs30 crore through its corporate social responsibility initiative to set up a high performance centre for badminton.

Pullela Gopichand Badminton Foundation (PGBF) will provide coaching and technical support for the academy.

The state government has already roped in PGBF to set up the high performance centre for promoting badminton in the state.

A presentation on the vision, design, road map for setting up a badminton academy with a high performance centre was made before Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who approved the final design of the centre.

Construction of the centre will start by December this year and will be completed by the end of next year. The academy will start functioning at the centre from December 2020, the official said.

"We will provide coaching and technical support to the centre. We believe that in the years to come, we will produce many champions from this place," said Gopichand.

Appreciating the efforts, the Chief Minister said, "With the vision of Gopichand and support of Dalmia Bharat, I am sure the performance centre will be one of the international standard training centre of our country. The state government has provided three acres of land for the centre."

"The state government is also constructing a multi-purpose indoor hall inside Kalinga Stadium campus which will be ready by February 2020, where the high performance centre can start functioning immediately. Promotion of sports by industrial houses is a winning combination. My government will always encourage such initiatives for the cause of sports in Odisha," said Patnaik.