Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh Chairman A. Ravi Naidu has said that water sports, which had suffered a setback in the city, would be revived. He inaugurated a summer coaching camp in kayaking and canoeing, being organised under the aegis of District Sports Authority (DSA), at Rushikonda here on Friday.

The SAAP Chairman inspected the DSA land, which was being used for the conduct of the camp. He participated in the boat race along with the players. Speaking to the players, he recalled that way back in 2002 itself, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu wanted to develop water sports in a big way in Visakhapatnam. He said that water sports was organised successfully in Visakhapatnam in 2019.

He alleged that under the YSRCP rule, water sports had suffered a setback with the YSRCP grabbing the land allocated for the organisation of water sports under the purview of DSA. On taking the issue to the notice of Mr. Naidu recently, he sought immediate acquisition of the DSA land at Rushikonda, for the promotion of water sports. He said that top level events would be organised at Rushikonda in the near future,

Mr. Ravi Naidu called upon budding water sports enthusiasts to make use of the summer coaching camp. He expressed hope that Visakhapatnam would produce international players in water sports. He said that water sports would come in handy to save lives in times of emergencies. He said that 11 different events in canoeing and kayaking would be organised in Visakhapatnam.