Athletes will get top notch training facilities at Sports Authority of India’s National Center of Excellence

Lucknow: Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur  launched a 300-bed hostel, a wrestling hall with state-of-the-art facilities at par with international standards, in an effort to further improve the sports infrastructure available at the Sports Authority of India’s National Center of Excellence in Lucknow.

Inaugurated an advanced hall for sports and a sports medicine center.

The Sports Authority of India’s National Center of Excellence in Lucknow has been the center of national camps for women wrestling athletes, where India’s elite female wrestlers are trained.

With the construction of a 300 bedded hostel at NCOE Lucknow, its capacity has been substantially increased and now it has an established capacity to accommodate 460 athletes including those visiting the national camp at any point of time. The new hostel will be dedicated to women athletes, while the existing two dormitories of 80 beds each will be reserved for boys training at the centre.

The Sports Medicine Center has been upgraded from the existing Medical Center and will now have a sports psychologist along with sports science specialists. To make this complex a fully equipped sports science center, advanced biomechanical machines are being installed here.

On the inauguration, Anurag Singh Thakur said that the Sports Authority of India Center in Lucknow was earlier a small centre, which has now been given a facelift to match international training standards. It has always been our endeavor to ensure that Indian athletes have access to all the necessary facilities that can help them perform better and these changes are an important step in that direction, he added.

Thakur specifically mentioned the stupendous performance being shown by women athletes from this center and also referred to the performance of weightlifter M. Martina Devi of Manipur, who trains at NCOE Lucknow and recently completed in Madhya Pradesh. Has broken 7 records during the Khelo India Youth Games. She said that when athletes compete from a centre, the facilities provided by the center are also tested. Union Sports Minister says Martina’s recent achievement proves that NCOE athletes in Lucknow are getting exactly the kind of training, diet and accommodation they need.