Sports varsity in Punjab will be a game-changer: Bindra

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 23

Olympics gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra feels that setting up a specialised sports university in Punjab will prove to be a game-changer. “It would act not only as an institution providing state of the art training but would be an inspiration for the youngsters,” Bindra said during Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi’s press conference regarding the Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab Sports University (MBSPSU). “I believe that providing facilities are much more important in today’s era to get better outcome from sportspersons,” he added.

Sodhi said that the state is looking to adopt a system in which players are nurtured from a young age in a scientific manner. He said that setting up MBSPSU will ensure this over the next three-four years. “With the aim of training our players in a scientific manner, we have set up this university. There would be no immediate results but after three or four years we will have good coaches to train our players,” Sodhi told The Tribune. “I have been to the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Centre and I was amazed. Our players need such centres to train. The facilities are an outcome of utter professionalism, which I believe our government is moving towards,” said Sodhi.

At a cost of around Rs 500 crore, MBSPSU will come into existence on 92.7 acres of land at Patiala-Bhadson road, village Sidhuwal. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone on October 25.