New Delhi: Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports and Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Singh Thakur joined the Bhoomi Pujan of the first National Centre or Excellence being set up with the joint partnership of the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Railways.

NisithPramanik, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, who has been instrumental in conceptualizing this project, lauded the vision of the Prime Minister and the guidance of Anurag Singh Thakur in creating this new infrastructure, that will be instrumental in bringing about a big change in the sports ecosystem in North Bengal.

Speaking at the event, Thakur said, "This centre will not just be a platform of world class training for athletes of the region, but also for athletes from across the country. I am confident that elite athletes, who will represent India in Olympics and other international events, will emerge out of this centre. However, this would not have been possible without the help of the Indian Railways that came forward to partner in this initiative and handed over 20 acres of land. This NCOE is historic because this is the very first time that SAI has partnered with any other organisation to build a National Centre of Excellence. I thank the Union Railway Minister  Shri. Ashwani Vaishnaw ji for his kind cooperation in this project."

The SAI Railways NCOE is unique because this is the first-ever NCOE for which SAI has partnered with another organisation.

The railways has given 19.5 acres of land in which the world class center will be set up with several facilities, including, a 400 meters synthetic track of international standard, a football ground, a multi-purpose hall for indoor games and a 100 bedded hostel.

The indoor facilities will have major games such as boxing, judo, wrestling, volleyball, badminton, basketball and others. A international standard hockey synthetic turf is also planned.

Speaking at the event Pramanik said, "I believe that athletes from this region who will now have access to world class infrastructure, the right diet, the best coaches and sports science facilities, here at the SAI Railway NCOE, can dream of making a career in sport. There is now a chance for sporting talent in the region to be identified and nurtured."

It has been the endeavour of the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to ensure the availability of top class training infrastructure across the country to train athletes for Olympics and such international events through Sports Authority of India's National Centers of Excellence.

The 23 NCOEs across the country imparts specialised training and playing facilities to elite and development level athletes in 14 priority and high priority disciplines, provides sports science backup, individual diet prescribed by trained nutritionists and overall supervision of top class coaches, qualified support staff and high performance directors.