Rajiv Gandhi International cricket stadium inaugurated in Dehradun
Dehradun: The first international cricket stadium of the state was inaugurated at Raipur Sports College in Doon.
Chief Minister Harish Rawat inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in presence of Sports Minister Dinesh Aggrawal, MP Rajiv Shukla and other dignitaries. The logo and mascot for the 38th National Games, which is supposed to be held in 2018, was also launched.
Rawat congratulated the people and sports fraternity of the state for the achievement. “The Sports Department has done a great job. We aim at promoting Uttarakhand as the sports hub and our government has laid a strong foundation for it. We hope that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will value our efforts and give us a chance to organise major sports events in near future,” he said.
Rajiv Shukla, MP and chairman of the Indian Premier League, assured the state of organising Ranji Trophy matches in Uttarakhand from the next season. He also announced that a team of experts would come to inspect the stadium so that IPL and international matches can be made possible here.
Earlier, the ceremony began with a friendly match between Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The team of the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) defeated Uttarakhand by 28 runs. Star players — Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla — played for UP. Suresh Raina didn’t play the match, but shared some light moments with his fans. Later, the event ended with a musical performance by Indian idol fame Abhijeet Sawant.
Bird Monal is mascot of National Games
The logo and mascot for the 38th National Games, 2018, was also launched.
The state bird, Monal, has been chosen as the mascot for the games. It has been named ‘Mauli’. The state logo for national games will be a view of mountain, forest and river with an athlete. The theme of the logo is ‘Play in Paradise’.
