From Kashi To Noida: How Uttar Pradesh Is Building India’s Next Sports Powerhouse

The 72nd Senior National Volleyball Championship was virtually inaugurated by PM Modi and formally opened by CM Yogi Adityanath at Dr Sampurnanand Sports Stadium. Calling it a proud moment for Kashi and Uttar Pradesh, Yogi emphasised that a strong sports culture builds national strength and leadership. Uttar Pradesh itself saw an aggressive push on sports infrastructure in 2025, combining a record state budget with central Khelo India support to rapidly expand stadiums and playgrounds down to the village level.​

Big budgets and vision

For 2024–25, the UP government earmarked about ₹1,950 crore for sports infrastructure and related sports development, signalling a clear intent to scale facilities across all districts. The state articulated a vision to double the number of playgrounds from around 30,000 to 60,000 so that virtually every community has basic fields for talent identification and daily play.​

Statewide infrastructure model

Policy statements in late 2025 emphasized a three-tier model: playgrounds in every gram panchayat, mini-stadiums at the block level, and large stadiums at the district level. The chief ministerial announcements also committed to establishing sports colleges at every divisional headquarters, pairing academic education with structured high-performance training.​

Mini indoor stadiums and school focus

In November 2025, the government approved mini indoor stadiums in 21 Government Inter Colleges across 17 districts, including Kanpur, Mathura, Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Sambhal, Gonda, Hardoi, Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Agra. Each indoor stadium costs at ₹4.92 crore, taking the total sanctioned outlay to roughly ₹103 crore, with the first instalment of ₹2.16 crore per project already released and executing agencies finalised.​

Khelo India investments in UP

Under the Khelo India sports infrastructure component, Uttar Pradesh accounts for 31 sanctioned projects with a cumulative allocation of ₹507.56 crore, of which ₹463.02 crore had been released by mid‑2024. A separate central statement put the Khelo India infrastructure allocation for UP at about ₹438.27 crore, reflecting overlapping but consistently high levels of sanctioned support for tracks, halls.​

Towards a national sports hub

By the end of 2025, state and national leaders were describing UP as an emerging “new sports culture” leader, citing modern upgrades at venues such as Sampurnanand Sports Stadium in Varanasi and new cricket facilities that position the state as a future international cricket hub. With nearly ₹2,000 crore in the 2024–25 state budget and over ₹500 crore in central Khelo India infrastructure sanctions, Uttar Pradesh is building one of India’s most extensive state‑level sports facility networks, from village playgrounds to divisional sports colleges.