Kolkata :Shri Sourav Ganguly, President, Board of Control for Cricket in India, along with Ms. Archana Joshi , General Manger , South Eastern Railway, in the presence of Sri Prashant Mishra, Principal Financial Advisor and President of South Eastern Railway Sports Association inaugurated the BNR Indoor Sports Complex in the Garden Reach campus of South Eastern Railway Headquarters on 26.09.2022. The Inauguration Ceremony was also attended by Sri Snehashish Ganguly, Secretary, Cricket Association of Bengal, and Sri Debabrata Das, Joint Secretary, Cricket Association of Bengal and other dignitaries.
South Eastern Railway Sports Association, which is the new avatar of the erstwhile, and perhaps better known, BNR Recreation Club, came into existence in 1956 along with the formation of South Eastern Railway. BNR Recreation Club, an affiliate member of Cricket Association Bengal, was founded in 1929, and has a rich history of legendary players and a long list of achievements, including winners of IFA Shield, Durand Cup, Beighton Cup and CAB league.
The BNR Indoor Complex boasts of the state of the art facility for all Gymnastics apparatus ( Vault, Horizontal Bar, Parallel Bars, Pommel Horse , Roman Rings, and Floor exercises ), three Badminton courts, Table Tennis facility, and a modern Gymnasium. Amongst its legendary sports persons include names like Leslie Claudius ( Hockey ), Mewalal ( Football), Arun Ghosh ( football), Balaram ( Football ), M.S. Dhoni ( Cricket), Aarti Saha ( Swimmer ) and many more.
The Complex, which is a 32 metres by 42 metres in size, has a unique design of a pillar less and truss less roof, with a maximum span of 32 metres.
Shri Sourav Ganguly, as Chief Guest on this momentous occasion, showered praises on the efforts of South Eastern Railway Sports Association in creating this impressive infrastructure and also greatly appreciated the role of Railways in promoting sports in the country in various sporting disciplines. On the occasion he also felicitated the outstanding sports persons of SERSA. The players felicitated included:
(1) Ms Nikki Pradhan, most dependable defender of Indian Women’s Hockey Team, represented India in the Rio and Tokyo Olympics, and recently held Common Wealth Games where she got a bronze medal.
(2) Ms Salima Tete, a cracking mid fielder of Indian Women’s Hockey Team, represented India at Tokyo Olympics, and earned a bronze medal in the recently concluded Common Wealth Games held at Birmingham.
(3) Ms Sangeeta Kumari, a dazzling forward of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team, earned bronze medal in the recently concluded CWG at Birmingham.
(4) Ms Pranati Das, represented India in Asian games, CWG, and World Championship in Gymnastics, held in 2014, 2018, and 2021.
(5) Ms Pranati Nayak, represented India in the Tokyo Olympics in Gymnastics, held in 2021.
(6) Sri Ashwin Shetty, earned Gold Medal in Asian Body Building Championship, held at Maldives in 2022.
(7) Sri Satyajit Mandol represented India in Common Wealth Games Birmingham 2022, and achieved 5th position in World Gymnastics Championship, held in Croatia in 2022.
