Govt would develop sports in the state: CM

Hyderabad, Sep 30 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today said his government would develop sports from the village level to bring out talent.

Declaring open the CM's Cup State Sports Meet at the Lal Bahadur Stadium here he said that his government would encourage sports at the village level by conducting sports competitions.

Chairman of Sports Association of Andhra Pradesh(SAAP) and President of the organising committee M.S.Raj Thakur said that the objective of SAAP was to develop sports and games from the grass roots level to produce national and international level players through its academies.

He said that the SAAP had spent Rs 3.36 crore for the year 2005-06 with the existing 30 Academies in different disciplines in 18 districts in the state.

He said that Rs 3.56 crore has been earmarked for academies for the current financial year.

He said that the state government has decided to construct stadiums in all the assembly constituencies and 40 per cent construction work has been completed.

The CM's cup would be conducted here from September 30 to October 4 and 5000 sports personnel from 23 districts would take part in the five-day events.

Sports Minister Satyanarayana Rao received the sports tourch and handed it over to actor Rajasekhar, who in turn handed it over to international volleyball player Ravikantha Reddy.

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