Next 10 yrs people will stop questioning sports facilities in India: Rahul Bose

Actor Rahul Bose, who has represented India internationally in Rugby for 25 years, before hanging up his boots, has said the sports scene in India has improved drastically in the last five years.

He was interacting with the media at the inauguration of an art show called 'Breaking Barriers' on Tuesday here.

Talking about the sporting facilities available to aspiring athletes in the country, he said: "I feel the kind of sporting facilities we have in the last five years, have never been there earlier. I feel Bhubaneswar will be the national sports capital.

"We all know about Patiala (Punjab). There are really good two to three academies for boxing and wrestling. Jindals (Jindal Steel and Power) have created a really good sports academy in Vijayanagar outside Bengaluru.

"So, I feel in the next 10-15 years people will stop questioning sporting facilities in India."

With more and more businessmen investing in sports academies under the Corporate Social Responsibility, things were expected to only get better, he noted.

"Earlier businessman and capitalists used to build temples or schools under their CSR activities but now they are investing in sports academies.

"Recently, I have been to Odisha, there I found out that seven sports academies have been funded by private investors.

"I feel things have started changing and in the next 10-15 years we will be able to see a completely different picture in sports in India."

(With inputs from agencies.)