Dhoni asks MP chief minister to allot land for sports academy

New Delhi: Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has requested Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to allot land for setting up a world class sports academy along with educational institutions in the state.

In a letter to the chief minister, Dhoni described the initiative as his lifelong dream and said that he would want to do his bit to help promote games and sports in the country other than cricket. "Our country is passionate about sports and millions of young people and sportsmen aspire to represent the country one day. However, many of our talented sportsmen fail to achieve their dream due to lack of infrastructure and training facilities," Dhoni said in the letter. "I propose to set up world class sports academy in your state inter alia and inculcate values such as hard, discipline and dedication towards sports. "Therefore, I most humbly requests you to kindly support us in our endeavour of promoting not only the game of cricket but other sports as well and allot us suitable land as and where required so that we carry on the process of passing acquired knowledge to the young and deserving aspirants." Dhoni also proposed to set up sports schools to inculcate awareness among youngsters to pursue education while having a sporting career. "Apart from providing specialised training in sports, I also propose to set up sports schools which will not only increase awareness towards sports but will also enable young sportsmen to pursue education while pursuing sporting careers," he said. "Apart from this, we would also feel obliged to get valuable guidance and support as and when needed which will ultimately build our confidence to well take care of the investment aspect of our initiative," Dhoni said in the letter. "An affirmative response to our initiative will certainly help us realizing our lifelong dream of promoting sports," he added. PTI