Post-Games, two stadiums to turn into sports schools

The crores of taxpayers' money that has been spent on the Commonwealth Games  2010 will be put to good use after the mega sporting event. According to senior officials in the Delhi government, two of the stadia renovated for the Delhi Games will be turned into "sports schools''. Education ministerArvinder Singh Lovely said, "Both Chhattrasal and Thyagaraj stadium  will be used for coaching the young talent in the city. This is to ensure that the venues are put to good use, specially after we have spent crores upgrading them.''

The plan is certainly ambitious the education department, which is in charge of sports, plans to hire more than 600 coaches to train budding sportspersons, who will be coached at Chhattrasal and Thyagaraj stadium. These venues, which have the latest equipment and international-level facilities, will run coaching classes in both morning and evening shifts. Said Satpal, additional director (sports) in the education department, "The plan is to coach over 5,000 young sportspersons in Chhattrasal, which has a large ground and facilities for a varied number of sports, including athletics, lawn tennis, basketball and football. Also, the wrestling hall has been renovated and is fully air-conditioned now. At Thyagaraj, the number of students will be fewer, around 2,000, since it's a smaller venue.''

Till now, while Chhattrasal Stadium was used for a variety of purposes, including hosting of social events, the Thyagaraj ground had been lying useless. The new Thyagaraj Stadium will also house the education department after the Delhi Games while Chhattrasal will have the offices of the additional director sports.

The legacy plan comes even as the sports ministry is yet to find takers for its various stadia. The ministry, which floated the tender for the upkeep of venues after the Games as part of a public-private partnership, has been claiming that its venues will not end up as glorified banquet halls. It's a prospect that has been haunting even the Delhi government, which spent Rs 297 crore on Thyagaraj and Rs 70 crore on Chhattrasal stadium. Satpal added, "The venues will be used to groom international-level athletes. That's not all, we will also allow senior citizens to use the facilities for a nominal fee.''

Incidentally, the government had earlier planned to turn the state-of-the-art Thayagraj Stadium the only green stadium in the city into a convention centre. This had elicited a lot of negative reaction, prompting the government to do a rethink. The sports schools now planned are expected to take off after the Games. Budget for the hiring of coaches and other equipment is yet to be decided, said officials.