Suresh Raina meets UP CM, demands better sports facilities

Lucknow, March 24 (IANS) Team India cricketer Suresh Raina met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav here Saturday and demanded better sports facilities for sportsmen and women in the state.

Raina arrived at the SP office at Vikramaditya Marg at around noon and met Akhilesh Yadav and his father, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. He congratulated Akhilesh for the sweeping mandate the Samajwadi Party (SP) got in the recent state assembly elections.

In the brief meeting, Raina requested the chief minister to encourage local sportsmen and to improve facilities and infrastructure with regards to sports development.

Emerging out of the meeting, Suresh Raina said he was extremely hopeful that under Akhilesh's leadership, Uttar Pradesh would grow and the sports fraternity would get more attention.

"Akhilesh himself has been a sportsman and he assured me that he would do all that was possible to ensure that local sportspersons got the best opportunity to grow and represent the state at national level," Raina told IANS.

The duo also discussed possibilities of a bigger stadium in Lucknow where special and advanced sports facilities would be placed on priority.