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| Sourav (top) and Dravid: Presents and presence for a good cause |
Siliguri, June 8: The list is endless.
The bat with which Sourav Ganguly scored his maiden century at Lord’s, Gurbux Singh’s hockey stick, Greg Chappell’s batting pads, the cap Kapil Dev wore when India lifted the World Cup in 1983, the swimsuit Bula Choudhury donned when she crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, Bhaichung Bhutia’s No 15 jersey, Sunil Gavaskar’s batting gloves and Sachin Tendulkar’s pads.
All these and more will find a pride of place at the Siliguri Sports Gallery that will be inaugurated by the Team India captain and his deputy Rahul Dravid on June 30.
Asok Bhattacharya said at a news conference today: “The Siliguri Sports Gallery will be the first in the region and house memorabilia donated by sports personalities past and present. The gallery will be housed at Kanchenjunga stadium and entry will be free of cost.”
“The gallery, which will be more of a sports museum, will display equipment used by sportsmen and women from all disciplines. Sourav has even consented to give away the Samsung prize he won in Pakistan during the recently concluded cricket series. Former cricket captains, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath, will also donate their trophies to the gallery,” Bhattacharya said.
Apart from the display of sporting memorabilia, there will be facilities for “one-touch” video clippings of major sporting events. A visitor can view video clippings of memorable moments of sporting history with just a touch on a screen. Sourav’s maiden century at Lord’s or Ronaldo’s match-winning World Cup goal will be just a click away.
Bhattacharya said he had contacted the sportspersons for the contributions. “The complex will be built at a cost of Rs 12.5 lakh. I will personally contribute Rs 7.5 lakh from my MLA’s local area development fund. The remaining Rs 5 lakh will be contributed by the Kanchenjunga stadium committee.”
Prominent contributors to the sports gallery include soccer greats like Chuni Goswami, P.K. Banerjee and Sailen Manna. They have all agreed to donate their India jerseys to the gallery.
“Apart from cricketers and footballers, we are trying to rope in other sports personalities including tennis stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. They have accepted my offer to donate their Wimbledon winning rackets,” the minister said.