Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (CLP/SP)

Mangaluru, Aug 31: State minister for youth services, sports, and fisheries, Abhaychandra Jain on Sunday August 30 stated that a 15-acre plot near Bondel has been identified for the construction of a well-equipped cricket stadium in the city. "We will ensure that this land is set aside for the stadium in a month. As per present plans, this stadium, which will have all necessary facilities and equipment, will be ready within a year," he announced.

The minister made this announcement at Forum Fiza Mall in a function for introducing the members of Mangalore United team that will be participating in Karnataka Premium League scheduled to begin at Hubballi on September 3. The new team jersey of Mangalore United and the Karbonn Smart KPL 2015 trophy were unveiled on occasion.

Jain requested Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister, B Ramanath Rai, to use his good offices towards ensuring that the land now earmarked for the stadium is made available to the concerned at the earliest.

"Every college needs to have a good cricket team. We are determined to bring up this cricket stadium within one year. Till then, the stadium of New Mangalore Port Trust should be well-prepared and provided for the boys from surrounding areas to practice cricket here. A meeting in this connection is being held on Monday August 31 at the office of the district deputy commissioner here with the participation of the chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust," the minister explained.

Abhaychandra Jain also revealed that the vice-chancellor of Mangalore University will be asked to see that cricket clubs are set up in all the colleges under this university.

Ramanath Rai said, "We have very good talents in the district and we have already produced national-level players in cricket as well as athletics. We now need a good cricket stadium, which will help the local players to train themselves and enable us to proudly host any tournament in Mangaluru."

Brijesh Patel, secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) said, "KPL has 50% of the players form the rural areas. Players need a good platform to perform. We have 30 districts and our aim is to build good stadiums and infrastructure in all the districts which would stop migration of players to Bengaluru. Mangaluru tops the lists for building a new stadium as it has all the necessary facilites to accommodate the players during tournaments.

"Both IPL and KPL are the biggest crowd gathering sports events and Sony Six has got the highest TRP and thus we are heading for the fourth edition of KPL. We need players who are mentally tough, who can perform under pressure situations. We had requested the administration to provide us land to build a stadium in Mangaluru, and we are hoping we will get it soon. Many Karnataka players are representing the national team, like K L Rahul who is a Mangulorean. We are one step ahead of the others when it comes to cricket. We have also installed solar power panels on the rooftop of Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. We firmly believe that after the recent auction, KPL 2015 will be exciting and it will be beter than KPL 3," he added.

MLA B A Mohiuddin Bava welcomed the guests and the gathering.

Karnataka State Cricket Association assistant secretary Santhosh Menon, and B M Farooq were among those present on the occasion.