Lucknow set to get yet another flood-lit stadium
The second turf is to be laid at the Vijayantkhand Stadium in Gomti Nagar, will host some matches also in December
The long wait of players and fans to have an international hockey stadium in the heart of the city is over as the state government has decided to construct state capital’s second flood lit infrastructure at the Vijayantkhand Stadium here in Gomti Nagar.
The new venue would also be playing host of some of the matches of the 11th Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup, scheduled to be held from December 8-18 at the Major Dhyanchand Stadium here as having two turfs in the hosting city is a must as per the Federation of International Hockey (FIH).
In its June 6 edition, HT had carried a report titled ‘Homework done well in time, hockey fans in for a treat’ mentioning the Vijayantkhand Stadium as the co-host venue of the mega event.
“Certainly, the Vijayantkhand stadium turf would be easily accessible for local players and I am very much sure that players as well as fans would get plenty of chances to see top class game of hockey in future also,” principal secretary, sports, Anita Bhatnagar Jain told HT soon after visiting the Vijayantkhand stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
“We are short of time in constructing the infrastructure for the World Cup and we found the Vijayantkhand stadium most suitable for this purpose,” she said, adding, Even though we checked the available space at the Guru Govind Singh Sports College too for this purpose, for that we had to cut over 250 green trees and it was a time taken issue also.”
She, however, assured that all existing facilities like for tennis, badminton, table tennis, squash, weightlifting, football would continue as it is. “There is ample space for everything and I don’t see any problem in continuing with the existing facilities there.”
Director sports, RP Singh, who also visited the Vijayantkhand stadium along with principal secretary and project officials on Tuesday, admitted that it was a long pending demand of the fans and the players for a hockey astro turf within the city limit.
“I am very much sure that after the World Cup, many big matches, including Indian Hockey League and state government’s sponsored All-India Tournaments will also be a regular feature on this venue,” said Singh, who also happens to be a former Indian hockey captain. “The existing flood-lit stadium at the Dhyanchand stadium here is not being used for daily training of the players because of its location, but the new venue at the Vijayantkhand stadium is easy to reach for everyone,” he said. He, however, claimed that FIH doesn’t have any objection over the construction of second venue for the matches at the Vijayantkhand stadium away from the first venue at the Dhyanchand Stadium. “The distance between the two is just 6-7 km and commuting won’t be a problem for participating teams.”
Other than the Dhyanchand stadium, state capital does have one more turf at the SAI Centre near the Amausi airport, but it is purely for training. The other turf at the 32nd Battalion, PAC Stadium was dismantled because of the construction of Lucknow Metro. Besides hosts India, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, Egypt, New Zealand, Pakistani, South Africa and Spain will be in action. The matches will be shown live in over 100 countries.