Bhubaneswar: February 14: ‘Generally Ministers are used to giving away sports awards. Today, you must have been surprised to see me getting one. Well, you see, politics is not very different from Sports. We have to Run, Duck, Jump, Catch, Sprint, sometimes you don’t even know in which direction you are running…sometimes you throw and sometimes you are thrown out. Both in sports and politics you need passion to succeed’, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said while receiving the State of the Year for Promotion of Sports award at Mumbai today. .
In Sports, passion to win a game will make you a winner but passion for the game will make you an icon. Similarly, in politics, passion for power will make you win elections but passion to serve will make you win people, Odisha CM said.
Addressing the gathering at the Sports Star Ace Award Ceremony, Naveen Patnaik said that a competitive spirit is the hallmark of both (sports and politics) disciplines. He also cited an example and said, ‘Let me give an example-we decided that all the Kuchcha houses in Odisha should be converted to Pucca Houses. We used to construct 5 lakh houses in five years. The challenge was to construct about 20 lakh houses in five years. One of the main strategies that worked for us was to create competitive spirit amongst the districts. Achievers were recognised fuelling further competition. And it resulted in a record 2 million families getting shelter security. Now, I must congratulate THE HINDU for instituting this award and creating a competitive atmosphere among the states’.
Naveen Patnaik further added, ‘An Investment in Sports is Investment in Youth. An investment in Youth is Investment for future’.
He said, ‘Every State and its people are passionate about some sports, as Hockey in Odisha. In pioneering step, Government of Odisha is the official sponsor of the National Hockey Teams-both Men and Women’.
‘If States start adopting one or two games, it will hugely benefit the Sports ecosystem in the country’, stated Naveen.
