Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju will arrive in Kashmir on Friday, April 9, to inaugurate the Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE) for Water Sports at Manasbal and Dal Lake.
Rijiju, during the 2nd Khelo India National Winter Games held in Gulmarg in February this year, had announced that he would be coming to Kashmir again to inaugurate CSE for Water Sports. The state-of-the-art national level coaching centre would be established in the sports disciplines of Rowing, Kayaking and Canoeing. While Rowing centre is likely to come up in Manasbal Lake, the Kayaking and Canoeing centres are going to be established in Dal Lake.
As per the scheduled programme, the Union Minister would arrive in Kashmir on April 9. He would witness various events on April 10 apart from inaugurating the Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE) before departing on April 11.
In addition to inaugurating the high profile coaching centre, Rijiju is also going to witness under lights All Legends Football Match at the Synthetic Turf in TRC ground, Srinagar. The match is being organised by J&K Football Association and two teams – Kiren Rijiju-XI and Farooq Khan-XI – would clash against each other. The teams have been named after the Union Minister and Advisor to Lt Governor J&K Farooq Khan respectively. On the occasion, a rugby match would also be held besides various cultural programmes.
To finalise the arrangements, J&K Sports Council held a meeting of all the stakeholders in Srinagar on Tuesday in which various issues regarding holding of the events were discussed.
“Union Minister is coming to Kashmir on April 9 to inaugurate the Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE) which would be funded by the Sports Authority of India,” an official of the J&K Sports Council said.
He said during the inauguration, demonstrations of various water sports disciplines would be held at Nehru Park.
An official of the J&K Football Association (JKFA) said that the football body would be conducting a match involving former players.
“We have been tasked to conduct a football match involving former players for which we have stepped our efforts,” the official said.
Union ministry has sanctioned the Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE) for Fencing and Water Sports, to J&K. While the Fencing centre would come in Jammu, Water Sports Centre is to be established in Kashmir. The ministry also sanctioned the Centre for Sports Excellence (CSE) for Winter Sports in J&K which was inaugurated by Kiren Rijiju during the 2nd Khelo India National Winter Games.