The badminton complex under construction

Hazaribagh, April 24: The state will get its first multi-complex with a badminton court within a couple of months.

Sources said the construction of this building, near the private bus stand along the Ranchi-Patna highway, is in the final stages.

The stadium would have a gallery and would be able to seat 500. Officials said the state government pumped in around Rs 7,600,000 to construct this building. According to them, the multi-complex would be 39m long and 20m wide, would have a hostel, canteen, offices, chairman’s room, staff rooms and 13 rooms for visitors.

Sports lovers said after the structure is completed, Hazaribagh would have a top-class indoor badminton stadium that is well equipped to host state and national-level tournaments. Many said the state lacks a proper indoor badminton stadium to host any big tournament. Though Hazaribagh has an indoor stadium for badminton players, there is no gallery here.

The former secretary of the district badminton association and a well-known coach, Naresh Sinha, welcomed the construction of the multi-complex. “I had been fighting for long to draw the attention of the government towards promoting badminton,” he said.

The new multi-complex would “definitely encourage” several people to take up this sport. “But other than the construction of the complex, I want the government to ask all private and government schools to organise badminton tournaments during their annual sports day,” he said.

Sinha said so far, the district badminton association had been organising state-level tournaments. “But we would be capable of hosting bigger events once this structure is completed,” he said.

Though several supported Sinha, they also said constructing such a complex would not solve the problem. They pointed out that an indoor stadium was constructed few years ago but due to lack of seriousness, only a handful of students visited the place to get tips on how to play this game.

“Construction of this complex is a positive indication but efforts are needed on the part of enthusiasts to popularise this game,” he said.