Sports push: TN CM announces world-class Olympic City in Chennai

CHENNAI: A world-class TN Olympic City in Chennai, with the facility envisaged as an integrated sports complex aimed at producing athletes capable of winning medals at the Olympics and other international sporting events, will be established by the state government.

Making the announcement under Rule 110 in the Assembly on Thursday, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay said the Olympic City would be developed through the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) to enable the state’s sportspersons win a greater number of medals at the Olympics and other international competitions.

According to the announcement, the Olympic City will have world-class sporting arenas, state-of-the-art sports equipment, a high performance training centre, sports science and sports medicine centres, besides accommodation facilities for athletes and coaches. The complex is also intended to host national and international-level sporting events.

An SDAT official told TNIE that the Olympic City will come up at the same site that had earlier been selected for the Global Sports City project at Semmencheri along the OMR corridor. While the budget earmarked for the ambitious project was not announced, the project will have additional facilities and is being planned on a larger and more comprehensive scale, the official added.

The development comes three weeks after the SDAT terminated the Rs 205.89-crore work order awarded for the Global Sports City project that was announced by the earlier DMK government.

SDAT sources said the authority would also establish an SDAT Talent Research Wing (TRW) and Olympic Centres of Excellence at 10 locations across the state. Welcoming the announcement, minister Aadhav Arjuna said conducting Olympic events in India is everyone’s dream and the government has a responsibility to create the required infrastructure.