Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 25 JUNE: The first Indian woman Olympic medalist and retired weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari has been appointed the first vice-chancellor of the Delhi government’s Delhi Sports University.
On International Olympic Day 2021, the Delhi government appointed her as the first vice-chancellor of the varsity.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Manish Sisodia welcomed Malleshwari on the occasion.
Taking the moment to Twitter, Kejriwal said, “Our dream of launching Delhi Sports University is coming true. It gives me great pride that Olympic medallist Karnam Malleshwari will be the first Vice-Chancellor of Delhi Sports University. We discussed the vision of Delhi Sports University today.”
Malleshwari won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She has also been awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award and Padma Shri.
The Delhi assembly had passed a Bill for the establishment of this university in 2019, with the aim of offering graduate, postgraduate and doctorate degrees in a range of sports.
Malleshwari said her idea of the university is to seek out young talent from schools.
“We should start visiting schools once they reopen and conduct a talent hunt for students interested in sports. There are many children who take keen interest in sports, but due to lack of any infrastructure they are unable to pursue their athletic dream. We will identify students and match their athletic skills to the sports they are apt for. We can use our existing infrastructure and coaches to begin sifting through our students to identify their athletic acumen. We will use the approach of going to schools, to children and players who are keen to strengthen their athletic acumen,” she added.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also welcomed the Olympic winner on Twitter.
“It is my greatest pleasure to announce the appointment of the first Vice-Chancellor of Delhi Sports University, Olympic medallist Karnam Malleshwari. Our purpose to establish the Delhi Sports University is to build and create athletes in our country who will make our nation proud. We want to create an atmosphere where sports flourishes and bring our players to a level where they bring at least 50 medals each year so that we can finally host Olympic 2048 in the nation,” he tweeted.
“The intention of building a world-class Sports University is not to generate jobs but to provide a space for individuals to finally build their athletic talent. Through Sports University, we want to nurture and foster talent so that we can say at least 50 Olympians are proud alumni of Delhi Sports University. The University will also provide state of the art sports facilities. Our goal is to prepare international medal-winning champions in at least 10 sports fields,” Sisodia added to his tweet.