Chennai
Main worldwide sporting competitions such because the Asian Males’s Hockey Championships, World Squash Championships and the World Surf League are coming to Tamil Nadu within the subsequent few months. This announcement was made throughout the launch of the Tamil Nadu Champions Basis and the Chief Minister’s Trophy 2023 by former Indian nationwide cricket group captain, M S Dhoni in Chennai, on Monday.
Dhoni is at the moment in the course of the IPL season, the place he captains the house group, Chennai Tremendous Kings. “Dhoni is the adopted son of Tamil Nadu, an inspiration for children, which is why, he’s the ambassador for these initiatives,” mentioned chief minister M Okay Stalin, on the occasion. “We wish to create many Dhonis in Tamil Nadu, not simply in cricket, however in all sports activities.”
The Tamil Nadu Champions Basis is a platform to convey collectively contributions in direction of sports activities. Minister for sports activities and youth welfare, Udhayanidhi Stalin, mentioned that inside 5 days of the pre-launch of this initiative, they’ve raised ₹23.5 crore, which incorporates ₹10 crore from Ramco Cements Ltd, ₹3 crore from the Tamil Nadu authorities and ₹2 crore from TVS firm. Stalin introduced that he’s contributing ₹5 lakh personally.
“This can be a distinctive initiative of our division, which will likely be a springboard to assist our sports activities individuals,” mentioned Udhyanidhi. “Like how our Dravidian Mannequin of governance is main by instance in social justice, we hope that the Tamil Nadu Champions Basis turns into an instance for different states to comply with and our state to be a sports activities powerhouse in India.” The MoU signed between Tamil Nadu and Odisha to facilitate the sharing of sports activities infrastructure, younger abilities, coaches, sports activities directors and sports activities scientists, is the primary such between two states, Udhaynidhi added.
In the meantime, the Chief Minister’s Trophy goals to search out and harness rural expertise by conducting tournaments. Collectively, the 2 initiatives handle the availability and demand of the sports activities eco-system within the state, mentioned Meghanathan Reddy, member secretary, Sports activities Growth Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT).
Dhoni didn’t communicate on the occasion, which was additionally attended by Chess grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa. On the again of efficiently conducting the forty fourth Chess Olympiad in 2022, inside 4 months (after the worldwide match was pulled out of Moscow on account of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) the Tamil Nadu authorities is being approached by a number of federations to conduct worldwide sporting occasions, officers mentioned.