Visakhapatnam: State minister for sports, youth services and judiciary Kollu Ravindra inaugurated the OORJA-CAPF (central armed police force) Under-19 football talent hunt tournament for under-19 boys and girls, organised by the central industrial security force (CISF) at the Railway Stadium here on Monday. Talking to the media after inaugurating the event, the minister said the TD government would set up 10 sports academies in Andhra Pradesh to produce talented sports personalities. With a view to promoting sports in a big way, the state government has accorded top priority for sports by creating the best sports infrastructure to tap talent in sports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has committed to promote and popularise football in the country. He has launched a programme named ‘Mission XI million’ to take the game to the hearts and minds of 11 million boys and girls around the country by actively engaging them, instilling in them an interest in the game, Mr Ravindra added. On the proposed plans, the minister said the TD government has decided to construction stadiums in 175 Assembly constituencies at a cost of Rs 2 crore for each stadium.

In the first phase, the government had taken up construction of 50 stadiums. Of this, 39 stadiums had already been completed and the remaining 11 will be completed soon. Chairman of the tournament and Inspector General of CISF, south zome, Chennai Anand Mohan said the tournament was being held prior to the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) world cup U-17 this year. The state CISF had been given the responsibility to organise the tournament in association with the AP Football Association and a few others in the state, he said.

He said that, in phase-one, a total of eight boys and eight girls teams will be participating in the tournament and a total of 32 matches will be played in the phase one in Vizag city from may 1 to 10. Cine actor Ghanta Nani and Olympic bronze medallist Karanam Malleswari have been appointed as brand ambassadors for boys and girls respectively to promote football as a game.