Uttar Pradesh Sports inks MoUs with HCL Foundation to strengthen the grassroots sports ecosystem and infrastructure and build High-Performance Centre
Uttar Pradesh’s growth story in the sports sector continues as it marches towards Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of making India a sporting power with what can be termed a historic event as the Department of Uttar Pradesh signed several Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) in the presence of Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports and Information and Broadcasting, Shri Girish Chandra Yadav, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Sports and Youth Welfare, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Shri. Navneet Sehgal, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Sports and Youth Welfare, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
The sports-focused session titled “Harnessing opportunities in the sports sector in Uttar Pradesh” at the Invest UP Summit saw MoU’s being signed to strengthen the grassroots sports ecosystem of the state and create synergies with corporates and organizations to work on PPP model to empower athlete training in the state.
HCL Foundation intends to work with 5,000 underserved children and youth and persons with a disability to identify and nurture talent in multiple sports with the vision of mainstreaming them in the existing sports ecosystem of India. The proposed project will be implemented in Lucknow, Gautam Buddha Nagar & Hardoi districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Dr. Nidhi Pundhir, Vice President, Global CSR, HCL Foundation said, “Sports for Change’ is a CSR initiative by HCL Foundation where 27,000+ athletes are being trained across India of which 14,000+ athletes are from Uttar Pradesh. We are happy to have signed an MoU with the Department of Sports, Government of Uttar Pradesh under which we will mainstream 5,000 more children and youth from the underserved sections of the society with higher focus on girls, including para-athletes into sports such as football, kabaddi, volleyball & athletics. Our shining stars Jerlin (Arjuna Awardee and Deaflympian), Kanishri (Asian Games Medalist, Chess), Anitha (Kabaddi), Chandini (Basketball) and many more are true results of this initiative.”