Guwahati, 15 July (HS): Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the High-Performance Sports Training and Rehabilitation Centre at Kokrajhar on Tuesday. With this inauguration, the centre has become the third of its kind after the same were dedicated in Guwahati and Jorhat respectively.
It may be noted that the project is a joint initiative between the Department of Sports and Youth Welfare, Government of Assam, Abhinav Futuristic Private Limited, Oil India Limited and Numaligarh Refinery Limited. The facilities incorporated in the centre include high performance sports training, injury management with advanced robotic rehabilitation, physiological and biomechanical assessment, nutritional assessment and support, physiological assessment and support, recovery services etc. Moreover, the centre also has laboratories like motion analysis lab, gait lab and biomechanics lab, recovery lab, rehabilitation lab, para-athletics performance lab etc.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma said that the centre has been designed ti prove itself to be a boon for Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The region has many sports talents. Therefore, with an aim to give the sports talents with state of the art opportunities, the Kokrajhar Centre has been set up with partnership between State government, BTC, Abhinav Futuristic Private Limited, Oil India Limited and Numaligarh Refinery Limited. With the inauguration of the Kokrajhar Centre, Assam has become the first state to have three high performance sports training and rehabilitation centre in a very short span of time. This centre will help in creating Olympic level value addition in Kokrajhar for the players of BTR and adjoinign areas.
Dr. Sarma moreover said that Assam has many sports talents. Referring to Khel Maharan where around 73 lakh sports persons across the state participated in various disciplines, Dr. Sarma said that because of the lack of proper exposure, some of the players do not get the opportunity to excel their sporting talents and showcase their skills at the national and global level.
The high performance sports training and rehabilitation centre in Guwahati, Jorhat and Kokrajhar will together give a much-needed fillip to the sports talents to raise their performance level at different sports events. He said that after the centres became operational in Guwahati and Jorhat, one hundred players received medals at the national level and three hundred players got medallions at the State level championships. The Chief Minister also said that State government is working very assiduously to create sports infrastructure across the state along with creating hostel facilities in the sports training centres for the players to get expert attention on 24X7 basis.
The Chief Minister said that Kokrajhar and other areas of BTR are the priority areas for the government to create state of the art facilities considering the huge number of sports talents available there. He on the occasion informed that State government will construction a football stadium at Kokrajhar involving a financial outlay of Rs. 125 crore, and the foundation of the same will be laid very soon. He also said that government is also considering the option of opening the rehabilitation centres in the medical college and hospitals across the state for the patients to avail of the benefits of the facilities in next two to three years.
Dr. Sarma also called upon the sports talents to make good use of the high performance sports training and rehabilitation centre in Kokrajhar built with a project cost of Rs. 25.70 crore with an addtional execution supervision cost of Rs. 2.60 crore. The Centre has the facilities like high-end sports technology, supports for renowned and grass root level athletes of Assam, provision for scientific assessment, physiotherapy and rehabilitation, talent identification etc. He at the same time thanked the people of Kokrajhar for their support in this initiative.
Minister Handloom and Textile UG Brahma, Minister Sports and Youth Welfare Nandita Gorlosa, Chief Executive Member BTC Pramod Boro, Deputy CEM BTC Govinda Basumatary, Olympian Abhinav Bindra, Director Oil India Limited Saloma Yomdo and host of others were present at the inaugural function.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Sriprakash
