The country is still groping to come to terms with India’s humiliating exit from the World Cup. But that did not stop Neo International Sports Academy (NISA) to announce the launch of its initiative, Gujarat’s first and India’s biggest indoor cricket stadium. In association with Australian International Sports Academy (AISA), NISA and Phoenix Sports are building the stadium at Gandhinagar, the first of the series. The others are being planned for Surat, Mehsana, Vadodara, Jaipur, Pune and Mumbai. “We are expecting the Gandhinagar centre to become operational in six to seven months’ time. We are also negotiating with various companies for land allocation for other centres,” said Vidya Gaikwad, vice-chairman, NISA. NISA and Phoenix Sports are together pumping in money into the Gandhinagar project, which will be the first of its kind in India. “We are spending about Rs 9 crores for the initiative. It’s not just going to be indoor cricket, but a multi-activity centre. We will have gymnasiums, eating joints, sports shop among others. AISA will help us with their expertise and coaching,” said Gaikwad.Interestingly, besides cricket, facilities for beach volleyball, beach soccer, net ball and soft ball will also be available.For cricket, there will be four courts where matches will be played simultaneously.“We are expecting not less than 6,000 games annually. Each player will be charged to play here.” They will also be sending an Indian cricket team to the indoor cricket world cup to be held in Bristol, England, in September 2007. The team will be recognised by Indian Indoor Cricket Federation and World Indoor Cricket Federation. “Since the Gandhinagar centre will take some time to get operational, we will create a small set-up to train players by a couple of coaches and one of them happens to be former Zimbabwe player Eddo Brandes,” Vidya said.
