NAGPUR Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari recently held a meeting with Sports Minister Anurag Thakur in New Delhi.

During the meeting, Tiwari submitted a memorandum to Thakur requesting the Centre to allocate funds from Khelo India Infrastructure Development Scheme for developing sports in the city. The mayor also asked the minister to start Khelo India Centre through Sports Authority of India in Nagpur.

The meeting was also attended by Member of Parliament Nitin Gadkari. Similarly, Opposition Party leader in Maharashtra Assembly and former Chief Minister of State Devendra Fadnavis also supported the demand of Tiwari through a letter.

The Sports Minister was made aware that MP and Union Minister Gadkari is promoting sports in Nagpur by conducting Khelo Nagpur Khasdar Krida Mahotsav for the past many years. “Nagpur has talented players in fields like kabaddi, basketball, kho-kho, boxing, athletics, swimming, volleyball, softball, fencing, shooting, archery, weightlifting, table tennis.

“Such players need better infrastructure so that they can compete at the highest level. Hence a Khelo India Centre (district level) is a must in Nagpur which is at the heart of the country,” the letter stated.

MLAs Krishna Khopde, Vikas Kumbhare, former Mayor and MLC Pravin Datke, Additional Municipal Commissioner Deepak Kumar Meena, Nagpur Improvement Trust Chairman Mohan Kumar Suryawanshi, NMC Sports Officer Piyush Ambulkar, Arjuna and Dronacharya award winner Vijay Munishwar and others were also present during the meeting.