Kerala - Kochi   

Multi-purpose sports complex set to come up

Stan Rayan

Planning it is Graeme Watson, former Australian cricketer

Graeme Watson

KOCHI: He has designed or worked on some of the most prestigious sports projects in the world. Cricket Australia and the Australian Rugby Union are among his major clients. He planned Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence in Brisbane four years ago and is now working on a cricket facility in Beijing.

Graeme Watson, former Australian cricketer and leading architect, is now in Kochi, planning a multi-purpose sports complex in the heart of the city. The complex, which will have eight indoor and outdoor cricket pitches, 10 badminton courts, basketball and volleyball courts, a swimming pool, a gymnasium and a sports medicine centre, is a dream project of the Muthoot Pappachan Group.

"This will be a unique facility; there will be a lot of elements to it," Mr. Watson, managing director of International Sports Facilities Management, said here on Friday evening. "We can also provide the facility for external use; for example, for cricketers from Sri Lanka and even for corporate groups."

"We are working on a multi-purpose sports complex on the Olympics site in Sydney; the Kochi facility will be something similar, in a smaller scale," said the 61-year-old, who played Tests and one-dayers and Australian Rules football in the Sixties and early Seventies.

"The land for the project is already available with us; we are working on the budget and other things," said Thomas George Muthoot, director of the Muthoot Group, which has cricketer Sreesanth as brand ambassador.

The project was conceived a few months ago during a drive to Sreesanth's house. "We (the directors of the group) were discussing the lack of practice facilities for cricketers in Kochi," said Sivakumar, Sreesanth's coach at the Ernakulam Cricket Club, which is now supported by Muthoot.

The project grew bigger with facilities for other sports coming in. The complex will have three floors with all the playing facilities coming on the first floor.

"The Indian team in badminton is packed with players from Kerala. That is why we have decided to give dedicated facilities for badminton along with cricket," said Thomas Muthoot, the group's director.

The group plans to use its own funds for the project and once the green signal is given, the complex should be ready in about two years. "Of course, we will need all the support from the Government," said the directors.

For the day-to-day running of the venture, the group plans to offer the facilities for an hourly fee.

Some of India's biggest and brightest sports stars, including P.T. Usha, Anju George and I.M. Vijayan, have come from Kerala.

Sadly, there are very few grounds open to children these days in Kochi.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is just a venue for once-a-year mega events these days, and with the new synthetic track coming up, soon, the Maharaja's Stadium, once the most active ground in the city, will be a closed venue too.

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