Mizoram among 8 states to get Khelo India state centre of excellence

AIZAWL: Mizoram has been included among eight states where Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) will be set up, state Sports minister Robert Romawia Royte said.
According to the announcement made by Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday, Aizawl Sports Academy at Rajiv Gandhi (RG) sports complex in Aizawl’s Mualpui locality has been included among the eight centres in the country to be developed as KISCE, Royte said.
"I am pleased to share that Aizawl Sports Academy located at Sports Complex in Aizawl has been selected for Khelo India State Level Center of Excellence by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports," he tweeted.
Royte said that he convened a meeting with department officials on Wednesday during which they decided to establish KISCE at the sports centre comprising of Stadium complex, R Dengthuama multipurpose hall, Mizoram State Sports Council (MSSC) hostel, Hawla indoor stadium, Aizawl aquatic centre and other facilities that are coming up within the area.
The Sports minister also conveyed his sincere appreciation of the new initiatives made by the Union Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry under the leadership of Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju for selecting Aizawl to be one among the first 8 centres of excellence as proposed earlier.
He told the meeting that with the assistance from the Centre the initial focus will be on boxing, weightlifting and judo.
Other disciplines will also be accommodated in the centre in the future, he said.
The two-tier stadium, which is under construction, is designed to have a seating capacity of 20,000 spectators.
Its foundation stone was laid by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on March 6, 2016 during the erstwhile Congress government headed by former chief minister Lal Thanhawla.
The 26th Northeast Games was hosted at the complex in 2012.
On Tuesday, Rijiju had said that the Centre has decided to establish KISCE in every state and Union Territory to create a robust sporting ecosystem in the country.
In the first phase, the Union Sports ministry has identified state-owned sports facilities in eight states - Karnataka, Odisha, Kerala, Telangana and the Northeast states of Arunachal, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, which will be upgraded into KISCE, Rijiju had said.