Plans to unite all Nadi sports stakeholders

THE Nadi Sports Council (NSC) was revived recently with an aim to unite the stakeholders in a bid to establish the necessary sporting facilities to make Nadi the sports tourism hub of the country.

The meeting which was organiased by the Nadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry where prominent businessman and Boxing Commission of Fiji board member Usman Ali was elected as the chairman of the NSC.

The NSC will serve under the umbrella of the NCCI.

Officials from sporting bodies such as swimming, football, rugby, boxing, athletics and tennis were present during the meeting.

According to Ali, there were many sporting bodies in Nadi which did not have proper facilities.

He said as a result they had decided to unite as one under the NCCI umbrella to start making progress in that area.

“We are not privileged to have many proper facilities with the number of sporting bodies in Nadi,” Ali said.

“Many overseas teams land in Nadi but go elsewhere to play because we do not have international facilities.

“We will hold more meetings and then decide how we will go further to have those facilities in Nadi.”

The lack of indoor facility, Olympic sized pool, international standard ground with relevant lighting and change room facilities is a major drawback in Nadi.

Ali said the indoor facilities were their number one priority.

“We are looking at top-class facilities so that we can attract whatever athletes and teams we can.

“The focus will also be to get people out of their homes not only to watch events but use the facilities for their benefit of living a healthy lifestyle.”