GUWAHATI, June 23 - In a bid to develop the standard of hockey in the State, Assam Hockey is planning to take the game to the rural areas and set up state of the art training centres.
Coinciding with the Olympic Day, Assam Hockey today hosted Rob Van Nes, the chief of the One Million Hockey Legs (1MHL).
Arriving here after visiting Manipur, Nes went to Tepesia and Amingaon to take stock of the situation there for setting up hockey centre.
Nes, while interacting with the media, informed that the Indian and Dutch government have signed an MoU in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands will offer support in sports development at the grassroot level in India.
The prime objective of the 1MHL is to increase the number of children and adult to play hockey.
The ultimate goal of the scheme is to attract 5,00,000 boys, girls, men, women and veterans towards the game before the 2018 World Cup Hockey which will be held in Odisha.
Nes informed that they have already started their scheme in States like Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, among others. He further revealed that he was very much impressed with the way Manipur is organising the game. �Manipur is a State with sports culture and that is the reason why Manipur has produced several international hockey players along with other events,� Nes said.
Minister Keshab Mahanta who is also the adviser of the Assam Hockey welcomed the 1MHL official and hoped that his visit to the State will inspire the yougsters.
Assam Hockey secretary, Tapan Das informed that they are trying to take the game to all nook and corners of the State in order to spot talent. Other Assam Hockey officials present on the occasion were Brajenjit Singh and Kishore Jayanta Madhab.
