New Delhi, Feb 6 (PTI) Sports Minister Ajay Maken today announced setting up of a coaching centre in Imphal, while sanctioning a football academy to Dimapur in Nagaland during a workshop on ''Youth and Sports development in North-Eastern region'' here.
Addressing the issue of lack of quality coaches in various sporting disciplines in the North-East, Maken said the Imphal coaching institute would be catering to the needs of the North-Eastern states.
Emphasising that Imphal would be the fourth coaching institute in the country after Patiala, Kolkata and Bangalore,the new sports minister said, "Looking at the problems of scarcity of coaches in the North-Eastern region, we have decided to set up a coaching centre in Imphal, which will particularly cater to the requirements of this region."
Maken also decided to sanction a football academy to Nagaland in view of the poor infrastructure for sports in the North-Eastern states.
Assuring that the other states of the region would als obe alloted academies over the course of time, he said, "this is just the beginning."
The workshop saw ministers from all the north-eastern states -- Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland -- sharing their concerns and discussing problems to the growth of sports in the region.
Lack of infrastructure and quality coaches, the geographical limitations of the states, lack of co-ordination between the SAI (Sports Authority of India) and the State Sports bodies, lack of modern equipment etc, were some issues highlighted by these officials.