After a long eight-year wait and a 49 per cent cost escalation, Bengaluru will be home to a new indoor basketball stadium in December 2017.The stadium is being built opposite the Malleswaram Ladies Association on 15th Cross Road, Malleswaram.
Mr. Narasimhamurthy, the Assistant Executive Engineer at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike(BBMP), said that work on the stadium, which began in 2009 with an initial cost of Rs 485 lakhs, will be completed by December at a cost of Rs 721 lakhs.
Shivanna, a mason at the stadium said, only two layers of the upper covering was left.He added that those would be covered with glass.
Dilip Gurumoorthy, a member of India’s basketball team at the 1980 Moscow Olympics expressed happiness at the development, stating that the purpose of building stadium such as this was to popularise the sport further.
He hoped for the next generation to get more facilities of this kind and addedthat with the wooden flooring in place at the venue, the players would not suffer from broken knees, as he and a few others did, while playing on hard courts.
Vinay, A 12th standard student and a resident of 13th Cross, Malleswaram, said, that basketball was not as costly as a few other sports and with proper court and infrastructure, the biggest requirement was taken care of He further added that this would attract more kids to take up basketball.
Rohith, a 3rd year engineering student and a resident of Malleswaram 11th Cross said, that the stadium would help increase the interest among the kids, provided it was made accessible to the public or to the club members on a daily basis.
Vivek, a software engineer and a keen basketball enthusiast, residing atMalleswaram 18th cross said, while most in the present generation were hooked on to their electronic gadgets, there arestill a few like him, who would take to the court and play, once it was finished.
The indoor stadium will be the first one in Malleswaram that also has an outdoor facility at the Burns academy, located inside the Malleswaram Circle grounds.
Prior to the indoor stadium, the land was home to the Beagles Basketball Club, which was an outdoor facility that was in use for over four decades, before plans to build the new venue arose.
The stadium will be the city’s second indoor basketball arenaafter the Kanteerava indoor stadium.
