Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju bats for grassroot leagues

CHENNAI: Setting up competitive leagues for various sports at the grassroot level is priority for Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju. He stressed on it while interacting with India’s top boxers during a session organised by Boxing Federation of India (BFI). “Such leagues should be there at the district and state-level.”

Hailing Khelo India as a good platform for budding athletes, Rijiju emphasised the need for such events at district and state level. “I’m also thinking of allocating funds to the state government, which will organise the events with federations. Provisions can be made in the budget. We can also involve the corporate sector. It has to be a public-private partnership. If we get more funding from them for local events, then it will be nice.”

The minister affirmed that those athletes who fail to represent the country should be taken care of too. “It shouldn’t happen with any athlete.”

Prasad Mangipudi, executive director of SportzLive, which organises PBL, welcomed the move. “A junior PBL will broad-base the talent search, with support from corporate sector and top players. We want to start it this year.”

Ultimate Table Tennis and Chennaiyin Football Club vice president Hiren Mody too felt the same. He said UTT and TTFI have partnered with school games federation of India and will support the sports minister’s initiative. “It is important to create a holistic, and simultaneous bottom-up and top-bottom approach,” he said.