Laxmi Ratan Shukla with Piyush Chawla and Yusuf Pathan at the inauguration of the formers Sports Academy in Howrah. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption]Howrah: A galaxy of stars assembled at the LRS Bangla Sports Academy on the occasion of the inauguration of the much awaited academy of former India and Bengal cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla. The academy which has come up near Dumurjala Stadium in Howrah has been built on land provided by the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC).
Notable among the guests present were Kolkata Knight Rider’s dashing all-rounder Yusuf Pathan and leg spinner Piyush Chawla. Also present were State Sports Minister Arup Biswas, Tollywood actor Jeet, director Srijit Mukherjee and former stars of yesteryears like Arun Lal, Raju Mukherjee, Gopal Basu, Sambaran Banerjee, Ashoke Malhotra and others.
According to Yusuf, “It is good to see such an initiative from Laxmi. I wish Laxmi and the academy a bright future.”
The academy, a brain child of Laxmi, will provide free coaching camps for Under-19 players in the field of cricket but all selections will be vetted by contacting local panchayat authorities to ensure that the players come from low-income groups.
LRS BSA will also train youngsters not just in football and cricket but also in gymnastics, badminton, table-tennis and other disciplines. The academy has a club house with two dressing rooms named after former Bengal cricketers Gopal Basu and Palash Nandy. Both the ends of the grounds are named after Shyam Sunder Mitra and Arun Lal.
According to Laxmi, “As you can see, I have tried to respect my seniors and tried to get them involved in whatever small way I can. The dressing room is named after Gopal Sir and Palash Sir. The gallery situated upstairs in the pavilion has the pictures of all the leading cricketers from Bengal. I have sincerely tried my best to respect all my seniors.”
To start with the academy will have only cricket coaching camps before football joins the fray along with badminton, table tennis , kabaddi, kho-kho and other disciplines. Students from different districts will be recruited through online Applications and then screened at the academy before they can join.
Shukla, who won from his North Howrah seat by a huge margin last year, had wanted to start this state-of-the-art training facility even before he picked up his new portfolio at Nabanna at the behest of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2016.
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