Chennai, January 09: The SDAT Tennis Stadium, which was once the home of the prestigious ATP Chennai Open, and the 40,000-capacity Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium are being revamped to give the participants of the Khelo India Youth Games 2023, Tamil Nadu, a truly world-class experience and Hon’ble Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Thiru. Udhayanidhi Stalin on Tuesday personally visited the two venues to inspect the ongoing work.
It is the first time that the Khelo India Youth Games are being held in South India and will be held across four cities – Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore – from January 19-31, 2024.
Dr. Atulya Misra, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department, Thiru. J. Meghanatha Reddy, IAS, Member Secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and other senior officials of the sports department accompanied the Hon’ble Minister.
The SDAT tennis stadium, which boasts of a 7000-capacity Centre Court complex and six side courts will be hosting tennis from January 27-31 and the young players will get an opportunity to showcase their skills at the venue that was once graced by the likes of former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Boris Becker to name a few.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, an iconic landmark in the city which has witnessed many national and international sports events in the past, will be hosting the Opening Ceremony apart from athletics and football events.
The Games Secretariat in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will be the epi-centre of the Khelo India Games with all top officials from the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) and Sports Authority of India (SAI) functioning from there.
Hon’ble Minister Thiru. Udhayanidhi Stalin also inspected the state-of-the-art blue synthetic track that is being laid at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the new DMX lights being installed and also enquired about the action and implementation plan for the grand opening ceremony to be held on January 19.
The Hon’ble minister also instructed the officials to provide the spectators coming to witness the Games, adequate space to park their vehicles.
