New Delhi, Jun 11 (IANS): Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Nisith Pramanik paid a visit to the Sports Authority of Indian National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) Imphal on Saturday and praised Manipur for its rich sports culture.

"From Manipur NCOE, we have got so many athletes who have dedicated their life for the progress of India. Athletes of Manipur like Mary Kom, Mirabai Chanu and many more have brought several medals for India. Irrespective of the colour of the medals, be it Gold, Silver, or Bronze, the greater thing is the effort and hard work behind it," said Pramanik.

The minister also promised that several new initiatives are being planned for the State of Manipur in terms of development of sports. "We have been talking and discussing about making Manipur equipped with all necessary Sports infrastructure and facilities. Manipur is one of the States where state-of-the-art sports infrastructure is being constructed as soon as possible. Very soon, before 2024, it will built and functional," he mentioned.

"We will try to bring forth a solution for athletes from rural areas to have access to all the facilities here as well. Since, rains are a big issue in the Northeast States, we will come up with something to address that issue. The vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister to make India a sporting nation is shared by all of us and we are making every possible effort to bring Manipur into that arena," the minister added.

Pramanik took a tour of the SAI North East Regional Centre (NERC) Imphal campus, visiting the Sports Science Centre, the Football Turf Ground as well as the Hockey and Athletic fields. He interacted with the campers, coaching and the scientific staff, besides also meeting with several former athletes and National Sports Awards winners from the State of Manipur.