NUAPADA: Singjar, a small village in Nuapada district where sports is the way of life, may finally get a mini stadium. The longing for a dedicated playground for the sports crazy village has been quite long. The dream is set to become a reality soon - made possible not by the government, administration or any organisation but by an elder woman of the very village Sabitri Majhi.

The 95-year-old Sabitri Majhi decided to ensure that the sports legacy of her village continues for generations to come and quietly donated five acres of her ancestral land in the village for setting up of a mini stadium. Her beneficence came to the fore recently when Nuapada collector visited her house to express his gratitude for her gesture.

Singjhar has been hosting several sporting events for more than five decades. Located around 100 km away from the district headquarters, the village organises the popular inter-state Budharaja Cup cricket tournament every year, which witnesses participation of teams from Raipur, Bilaspur, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, and neighbouring Jharkhand. Besides, it hosts football and kabaddi tournaments too. However, there was no dedicated sports ground in the village till Sabitri decided to do the needful. Earlier, villagers used private or government land for the tournaments.

A villager Prem Chand Baitharu said the Budharaja Cup has been held in the village for more than seven years now and before every tournament, villagers would approach the district administration for a permanent piece of land. But to no avail.

Eventually, youths of the village met Sabitri with the proposal for a dedicated piece of land for sports. Sabitri along with her husband Nilambar Majhi had in the past donated some patches of their ancestral land for humanitarian causes. Sabitri heeded to their demand and donated five acres of land belonging to the Majhi family for setting up the mini stadium. She transferred the land as a gift deed exactly a year back.

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