P.V. Sindhu and Andhra Pradesh IT & HRD Minister Nara Lokesh laid the foundation stone for the P.V. Sindhu Centre for Sports Excellence on Wednesday.
The centre is being built in Visakhapatnam and will span nearly two lakh square feet. The campus has been envisioned to integrate sports and education.
Initially, the initiative began to be solely focused on badminton, later expanded into a multi-sport project following discussions with AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and will now cater to seven disciplines — table tennis, badminton, swimming, shooting, football, basketball, and chess. Sindhu said the vision was to create a place where every discipline would receive equal importance from the start.
“I am very happy and very excited. Today, we had this ‘Bhumi Puja’ and foundation stone-laying ceremony, and it gives me great pleasure. Of course, Lokesh garu came and performed it. Also, other ministers, the sports minister and MLAs, are here. I am very happy that we have started, and I have been given a timeline, which is the year 2028.”
“I hope I inspire a lot of kids out there, and I hope to see a lot of girls and boys from here bring glory to the state as well as the nation,” she added.
“I am a deputy collector in the Andhra government, and they have given me land here. So I think, you know, I have learned a lot from sports, and sport has given me so much in my life. I think it is time to give back to the sport now. I see a lot of youngsters, a lot of talent and a lot of competition in Andhra,” she said.
“I thought, you know, having a world-class sports institute here will help a lot of kids showcase their talent and prove themselves. So I am glad that I am setting up the academy here,” she added.
“Initially, when they start as kids, they would want to explore every sport, and when they are nine or ten years old, they would want to choose one sport. According to their abilities and foundation, some of them might need a lot of strength and endurance. We will assess that, and we have experts available. We will have world-class coaches as well and will take it forward accordingly,” she said.
“I understand that not everybody can become an Olympic champion. Some people might take a long time to achieve success, while others might achieve it very early. But the most important part is that you need to have that belief and support,” she said.
“No matter where life takes you, you will see more losses than wins, and you will learn from them, experience them and bounce back stronger. This is what I want to tell the kids out there: do not lose hope, keep believing in yourself. So I am hoping for the best. Hopefully, during the grand opening, Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra CM) will be there. It will be my great pleasure to build a great sports institute with the support of the Andhra government and the Sports Authority of India (SAI).”
Sindhu and her husband spent their vacations studying some of the world’s sports facilities, visiting centres in Doha, Milan and Australia, among others. She said the trips became learning opportunities as they sought to understand global best practices in sports infrastructure and athlete development.
The centre is expected to be completed by May 2028; the facility will let children explore multiple sports before they choose a discipline. The facilities included at the centre will be:
Badminton: Nine international-standard courts, capable of hosting BWF International Challenge level tournaments
Table Tennis: Nine professional-grade tables with a dedicated performance training hall
Swimming: 25-metre performance pool designed for elite training and conditioning
Shooting: Indoor ranges at 10m and 25m, built for national and international level competition preparation
Chess: Dedicated high-performance training space for advanced coaching and competition readiness
High-Performance Engine Room: An 8,000 sq. ft. Strength and Conditioning Arena, one of the largest in India and benchmarked against global centres including Aspetar in Doha, houses sports science, performance tracking, load monitoring, physiotherapy, recovery systems and yoga and wellness facilities.
“We put our sweat and blood into it. I can confidently tell you that it will be a world-class centre and, at the same time, it will be an institute where people will actually be like, ‘Wow, this is what we need in our state and in the country,’” Sindhu told The Hindu.
“Sport has given me and taught me so much. It is a big project and is not easy, but at the same time I wanted something on this scale. I want to show people that we have a lot of talent and if we give them the world-class facilities, I’m sure you will see a lot of kids go on to bag medals for the state and the nation,” she remarked.
“India gave me the opportunity to win two Olympic medals, which changed my life. And this institution is how I carry that opportunity forward. My medals will always be my greatest honour and I hope this centre becomes my greatest contribution. Olympic medals inspire a generation, but institutions build generations.”
