From Our Correspondent
Visakhapatnam: Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu on Wednesday unveiled an ambitious new vision for her upcoming sports academy in Visakhapatnam, announcing that it would evolve from a badminton academy into a multi-disciplinary Centre for Sports Excellence catering to nearly nine sporting disciplines.
The project, now renamed the P.V. Sindhu Centre for Sports Excellence, was formally relaunched at a foundation stone-laying ceremony attended by Andhra Pradesh Minister for Education, IT and Electronics Nara Lokesh.
Addressing the gathering, Sindhu explained why a second foundation stone ceremony was being held despite construction already being underway.
She said the project had initially been conceived as a badminton-focused academy, and construction had commenced after preliminary works because circumstances had prevented a formal inauguration. However, after meeting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the project underwent a complete transformation.
“I went to seek his blessings and came back with homework,” Sindhu said, recalling the Chief Minister’s advice to build an institution that would serve future generations rather than focus on a single sport.
Following those discussions, the master plan was redesigned to create an integrated sports ecosystem offering international-standard training in badminton, swimming, gymnastics, shooting, weightlifting, basketball, football and other disciplines. The facility will also include an Olympic-standard swimming pool built by Italy’s Myrtha Pools, a 25-metre indoor shooting range, sports science laboratories, injury prevention and recovery facilities, nutrition support and world-class coaching infrastructure.
Political controversy
The fresh foundation stone ceremony, however, sparked a political controversy, with the opposition YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) accusing the TDP-led NDA government of attempting to claim credit for a project initiated during the previous government.
YSRCP said the then Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had allotted three acres of land for the academy in 2021. It also pointed out that Sindhu, along with her parents, had already performed a foundation stone ceremony on November 7, 2024, for the then-proposed Centre for Badminton and Sports Excellence, after which construction had begun.
The opposition alleged that the latest ceremony was organised solely to enable the present government to take political credit for the project.
Sindhu, however, offered a different explanation. She said the second ceremony was not about restarting construction but about formally launching a significantly expanded vision. The project, she said, had grown from a single-sport academy into a comprehensive sports excellence centre after its scope was fundamentally revised.
While Sindhu’s remarks clarified the rationale behind the fresh inauguration, the issue continues to trigger political exchanges between the ruling coalition and the YSRCP.