Srinagar, June 16 : Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha on Thursday said that it is the moment of joy for him to dedicate 15,000 capacity revamped indoor stadium to athletes and that government was trying to increase participation of around 35 lakh children in sports activities this year.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here, LG Sinha said that he was happy that children have got sports facility although late.

He added that he doesn’t want to go into the reasons why it was not revamped after the 2014 floods, but he was happy that indoor sports facility is open for athletes now which has a capacity of around 15,000”.

LG Sinha said that last year more than 15 lakh children participated in the sports activities, and this year the government is trying to make 35 lakh children participate in sports activities from both villages and cities.

“Almost every Panchayat has a playfield now and we are trying to build up more sports infrastructure on a larger scale,” he added.

He said that sports budget of J&K is more than the budget of the largest state of the country and this reflects their commitment that they want youth to participate in sports.

He further said that the way J&K has been getting medals, government hopes in coming times athletes from J&K will be participating in various national and international sports events.