PV Sindhu lays foundation for Centre Of Excellence named after her in Vizag

Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu and Andhra Pradesh IT & HRD Minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday formally kick-started the P.V. Sindhu Centre for Sports Excellence, laying the foundation stone for a facility designed to develop young sporting talent and potentially produce India’s future Olympians.

The proposed campus will cover close to two lakh square feet and is being developed as a combination of sporting and educational infrastructure, rather than a facility dedicated to a single discipline.

The project initially began with badminton as its primary focus but was subsequently expanded after Sindhu held discussions with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The centre will now offer training facilities across seven sports — badminton, table tennis, swimming, shooting, football, basketball and



chess.

Sindhu said the idea was to ensure that no particular sport was given preferential treatment, with all seven disciplines being developed as integral parts of the centre from the beginning.

Considerable research also went into shaping the project. Sindhu and her husband, Venkata Datta Sai, used their holidays to visit prominent sporting facilities in different parts of the world, including centres in Doha, Milan and Australia. The visits helped the couple study international approaches to athlete development, sports infrastructure and the overall sporting environment.

“We put our sweat and blood into it. I can confidently tell you that it will be a world-class center and, at the same time, it will be an institute where people will actually be like, ‘Wow, this is what we need in our state and in the country,’” Sindhu said.