Principal of HPS Begumpet Madhav Deo Saraswat, president of World Cycling Alliance Sir Graham Watson, first vice-president of WCA D.V. Manohar, president of HPS Society Gusti J Noria (extreme right) at the formal launch of HPS Cycling Club on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM
Hyderabad Public School (HPS), Begumpet, will soon invest about ₹25 crore for creating sports infrastructure to produce Olympic medallists, which will be incorporated duly in the Sports Policy document to come out soon.
The HPS Cycling Club was formally launched on campus on Saturday in the presence of president of World Cycling Alliance (WCA) Sir Graham Watson.
President of HPS Society Gusti J. Noria, a renowned shooter himself who played his part in the emergence of Olympics medallist Gagan Narang, felt that HPS was always known to combine excellence in sports and academics.
“Till now, the emphasis has been on shooting, cycling and swimming. Henceforth, we will cater to the other Olympic disciplines by ensuring quality training and the desired exposure,” Noria said.
“In India, ‘car culture’ seems to be hard to overcome. But it is time to bring a drastic change in the outlook towards cycling, which is environment-friendly and keeps everybody healthy too,” Sir Watson said.
“One of the best options is to have separate cycling lanes even on busy roads like it is in the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. I remember the famous sentence — if we can’t change the beginning, let us change the ending,” he said.
Chairman of Shakti Group and first vice-president of WCA D.V. Manohar said that the State government would soon complete about 200 kms of cycling track in the twin cities and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently agreed to come out with a National Cycling Policy to encourage cycling.
HPS principal Madhav Deo Saraswat hoped that the move would set a new benchmark for schools in moulding Olympic medallists.
