Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today announced that Guwahati will be one of the most important venues for the U-17 World Cup which will be held in India next year. The city is already shortlisted among the six venues of this mega event.

Talking to the media persons, in the side line of a function, Sonowal today said,“ The preparation is in full swing. Trial matches in different venues, including Guwahati, will start soon and process are on to complete the necessary up gradation work as early as possible.”

There was some speculation in the local sports arena that Guwahati may be removed from the list of host venues of the U-17 World Cup as the necessary works of the infrastructure development at Indira Gandhi Stadium may not be completed within stipulated time. Sarbananda ruled out any such possibilities.“ Guwahati is already selected as the venue of the U-17 World Cup and it will  remain. There is no chance to shift the venue elsewhere. Going one step forward I can say you that our city will be one of the most important venues of the next U-17 World Cup,” said Union Sports Minister.

He also added that Sports Ministry is very much interested to improve the standard of this game in the country and they are planning to take the help of Japan in this regard.

“India and Japan had decided to exchange sportspersons, coaches, experts and administrators to improve the standard of football in our country.Two countries are also interested to play some friendly matches ahead of the forthcoming World cup. A details discussion in this regard was held during the recent visit of Japan’s Sports Minister in India and MOU too will be signed between the two nations soon. I feel both the countries will be benefitted from it,” said Sonowal.

Meanwhile a case study report, prepared by IIM Ahmedabad on 12th South Asian Games, released today in Guwahati. The report credited the coordination between State governments and the Centre, even though there were political differences, for the successful of the Games which was jointly hosted by Assam and Meghalaya.

The case study was prepared by Prof Sanjeev Tripathi of the IIM and the idea behind to prepare this case study is to increase awareness and professionalism in sport in the country. It was aimed to identify the factors that helped the successful conduct of the mega event and that too in a very a short time which was just around 100 days.

Addressing the media persons Prof Sanjeev Tripathi, who was present in the study report release function in the city along with Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, said, “ The close coordination between the state governments and the Centre was an important reason for the success of the Games. Another important factor of grand success of this event was good selection of the peoples in the organizing committee. There were several officials in the organizing committee who had good knowledge on sports as well as the ground situation of both Assam and Meghalaya. It helped the organizing committee to take decision and implemented it very fast. Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal too get some credit of success. After the Delhi CWG, it was big challenge for him to deliver a corruption free game and he, in cooperation with the other members of the organizing committee and Sports Authority of India, had done a good job.”

Sarbananda Sonowal today assured that as per the decision of the organizing committee Tikhor Park will come up in Guwahati and Shillong very soon. It may be mentioned here that Rs 2 Crore had already been earmarked to construct two Tikhor Parks at Gauhati University and NEHU respectively.