Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], December 9 (ANI): Former Indian cricketer Ambati Rayudu praised the Telangana Rising Global Summit 2025, calling it a significant opportunity for the state. He commended Chief Minister Revanth Reddy's initiative and highlighted the importance of investing in grassroots sports infrastructure, world-class coaching, and facilities.

Speaking to ANI, Rayudu emphasised that supporting athletes from economically weaker backgrounds is crucial, as significant untapped talent exists in those sections of society.

'I think it is quite a great opportunity for Telangana itself and it's a great initiative by CM Revanth Reddy and his government to bring up such a summit to Hyderabad, to the future city and also it's a great time for Telangana as a state to invest in great sporting facilities especially at the grassroot levels where they can introduce some world-class coaches as well as world-class facilities for people to come up and especially athletes from various financial backgrounds because that is very, very important from the government's perspective to support athletes from poor financial backgrounds as well because that is where we have a lot of talent in this country that is unexplored,' Rayudu said.

Rayudu said Telangana has a major opportunity to identify and nurture talent from villages and districts, helping athletes rise to world-class levels. He noted that many sporting success stories originate from the grassroots and expressed confidence that Telangana can do the same.

'I think it's a great opportunity for the state to explore that talent, bring out talent from villages, districts and take them to a world-class level because that is where we will win Olympic medals as well as in cricket. We have seen so many great stories coming up from the ground level, and I think Telangana, I'm sure, will follow suit, and there will be a lot of talent that will be unearthed if the policies are done right and if the same initiative continues,' Rayudu told ANI.

Speaking about the Indian cricket team ahead of their T20I clash against South Africa on Tuesday, Rayudu said Suryakumar Yadav's leadership in T20s has been exceptional and expressed confidence that the team will do well.

'I think we have an extraordinary team, and being led by Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) in T20 is quite phenomenal. He has been doing really well for the team, and also the team itself, they have a very, very young team, very exciting to watch them play and I'm sure you know they'll be successful. (ANI)