Bhubaneswar, March 9: In a major boost to Indian athletics and swimming, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday inaugurated India’s first Indoor Athletics Centre and Indoor Aquatic Centre at the Kalinga Stadium here. He also laid the foundation stone for the Indoor Diving Centre.
The Indoor Athletics Centre stands as India’s first capable of hosting indoor continental and regional championships.
This world-class facility will be a training ground for the Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre, which was established in association with Reliance Foundation, and has been producing young athletics champions.
The centre boasts a 10,000-square-meter track, installed by the renowned Italian firm, Mondo SpA, used in Olympics, marking a pioneering feat within the country. The centre includes a 200-meter synthetic track, an 80m+20m running track, and designated areas for long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and shot-put, each meticulously designed to meet specific athletic requirements.
Accommodating the needs of high-performance athletes, the facility features 60 twin-sharing rooms for those undergoing full-time coaching. Its iconic stature was solidified with the esteemed Category 1 certification from World Athletics in December 2023.
The Indoor Aquatic Centre features temperature controlled 50m Olympic size swimming pool and 25 m warm up pool with a seating capacity for 1000 spectators and can host international championships. fitness centre, sports recovery facility and accommodation facility with 26 twin sharing rooms. The Odisha Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) HPC, a joint venture with JSW group, will be operational from this aquatic center.
The Central PSU – NALCO has contributed towards the construction of the Indoor Aquatics Center as a CSR funding.
The Chief Minister also laid foundation stone for Indoor Diving Centre that will be built at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. The Diving Centre will feature temperature controlled diving pool of 25 m, with an additional 5m for Synchronized Swimming and seating capacity for 500 spectators.
Speaking on this occasion, Chief Minister Patnaik, said “The new indoor facilities will provide our athletes to train and compete, round the year, without any external weather disturbances.”
“We are confident that both Indoor Athletics Centre and the Aquatic Centre will certainly help set new standards for sporting excellence on both international and national stages. It also marks an important step further strengthening Odisha’s robust sports ecosystem and our partnership with Reliance Foundation, JSW & Inspire Institute of Sports,” added Patnaik.
Chairman 5T & Nabin Odisha, VK Pandian was present during the event and interacted with the athletes and swimmers.
Athletic Federation of India president Adille Sumariwala, Swimming Federation of India secretary Monal Choksi, veteran sports administrator Ashirbad Behera, representatives from the State associations and sports persons were present on this occasion.
Sports and Youth Services Minister Tusharkanti Behera, Department Secretary Vineel Krishna, Nalco CMD Sridhar Patra, Reliance Foundation Director Aasish Contractor and JSW CEO Mustafa Ghouse were present.
