Khelo India 2019- Khelo India Hockey Matches To Be Shifted To Mumbai

The hockey matches of 2019 Khelo India Games that were scheduled to be hosted in the Balewadi Sports Complex, have now been shifted to MHA Stadium, Mumbai and National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla.

This comes after a team of Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials announced that the hockey turf failed to confirm with the minimum playing standard.

This was confirmed later by Maharashtra sports minister, Vinod Tawde, who said that the facility was not ready as per the international standards at the time of SAI’s inspection.

The officials informed that the inspection was done on two separate occasions in November. On the first occasion, the turf had certain issues with the stitches and uneven playing surface. Although requisite repair works were carried post the inspection, the committee was not satisfied by the quality of the turf.

However, he curtailed from giving any further details on the matter. Consequently, the second negative report led to SAI’s decision to shift the hockey matches to Mumbai and NDA. Sunil Kendrekar, Sports Commissioner of Maharashtra, informed that a sum of ₹ 5.5 crores had been disbursed for the repair work of the playing turf.

A team of Sports Authority of India is visiting Balewadi to oversee preparations for Khelo India Youth Games to be held in #Pune next month.@kheloindia pic.twitter.com/a8Jge7Z4cT

— Onkar Kedia (@Onkarkedia) December 21, 2018