The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Sports complex awaits `salvation'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Sports complex awaits `salvation'

V.V. Subrahmanyam

NRI spends Rs. 1.50 cr., seeks joint venture

HYDERABAD: Will the dream of a Non-Resident Indian, Muscu Madhusudhan Reddy, of completing an international standard sports complex in Choutuppal (Nalgonda district), 50 km from here on the National Highway 9, be realised?

This is the question Dr. Reddy faces after spending Rs 1.50 crores for constructing the main building and levelling the playfields for cricket and football on the sprawling 40-acre site.

"I was a sportsperson in my college days and I began this project with the objective of giving something back to my native village Thangadipally," he explained.

He is monitoring the project through M. Damodar Reddy, secretary of the Muscu Anantha Reddy Charitable Trust, but now he faces a problem.

"Since we are not well-versed with sports administration, even the idea of a sports school is difficult to visualise," says the secretary. Originally, Dr. Reddy thought of completing the entire project on his own.

But with the daunting task of maintenance -- since the trust is run mostly by senior citizens with no sports background and since he himself is in the US -- he is now looking for a joint venture.

"Recently, top officials from the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh and the Sports Authority of India visited the site and evinced keen interest.

But they were not sure whether sports activity could be commenced straight away," he explains.

Dr. Reddy is now looking for support to ensure continuous sports training and maintenance.

"We hope that a corporate group will chip in if the Government agencies fail to show interest," he said.

The two-storeyed main block (with a provision for two more floors) already has facilities to accommodate 100 athletes besides running of classes.

"The idea is not to make money through this venture. The objective is to ensure that the remaining aspects like identifying the individual sports and improving play facilities, are taken up by someone else," says B. Achyuta Reddy, one of the architects of the project.

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