Make ‘Aadudam Andhra’ a hit: Roja

With the energetic beats of the ‘Aadudam Andhra’ anthem echoing through Vijayawada’s Indira Gandhi Stadium and ‘Kittu,’ the lively mascot, adorning the venue, Andhra Pradesh’s Sports Minister RK Roja, SAAP (Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh) Chairman Byreddy Siddharth Reddy, and Principal Secretary PS Pradyumna set the stage for the upcoming mega sports festival– ‘Aadudam Andhra’.
Explaining the motto behind the mega sporting festival launched by the Andhra Pradesh Government, Minister RK Roja disclosed that the sporting festival has been designed with only one aim in mind: “To promote youth to participate in sports and to encourage them to maintain a healthy lifestyle.” She further added that the agenda of the program extends “To identify sports talent, particularly from the rural backdrop, and provide them with the best platform/ resources to excel at national and international levels.”
Spilling out the details of the campaign, the minister informed, “Knock-out competitions will be held for 5 competitive sports, including Cricket, Kho-Kho, Kabaddi, Badminton, and Volleyball, separately for both genders, men and women, across the state at 5 levels. The tournaments will culminate with state-level competitions.” She further emphasized the comprehensive arrangements made by the State Government, ensuring the successful conduct of a record 3 lakh matches in 50 days.
“The top players and teams playing at the constituency, district, and state levels will be given cash prizes. The total pool money for the prices is Rs 12 crores,” Minister Roja said while apprising the media about the exciting prizes that the participants shall be receiving.
Adding to it, Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) chairman Byreddy Siddharth Reddy stated, “The participants shall also be rewarded with trophies, medals, and professional training by interested sports academies.” Declaring Aadudam Andhra as AP’s largest sporting event, he informed that, “The government is expecting a potential participation of 85 lakh to 1 crore people. Ten thousand playing grounds across 15,000 ward/village secretariats have been prepared for more than 3 lakh sports events to be held. The event will be facilitated by ward/village volunteers, who are being trained as match referees.”
Providing support for cricket enthusiasts, Reddy announced that “the Andhra Pradesh government is looking forward to making a collaboration with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings to provide training at exclusive IPL franchise-run academies.”
In the end, Minister Roja and Byreddy, on a lighter note, exchanged a few trivia questions to discover each other’s sports knowledge. During this exchange, Minister Roja asked about ‘Byreddy’s preferred sport and player; he promptly responded that his favorite sport is cricket, and while he admired Sachin in the past, his current favorite is the Indian Cricket Team Captain, Rohit Sharma’. Similarly, when Byreddy asked Roja about her favorite game, she disclosed that her preferred sport is ‘Kabaddi’, and she finds the most joy in actively participating in the game.
MD of Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh Dhyanachandra was also present.