In a lift to the Sports activities Ministry’s plan to determine specialised Olympic coaching centres, the cash-rich Board of Management for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling adopting ‘two-to-three’ sports activities’.
A Sports activities Ministry supply informed The Indian Categorical that company homes, PSUs and the BCCI are concerned about funding a number of the Olympic coaching centres devoted to at least one sport every.
“The ministry is trying to create Olympic centres for each sport the place it is going to establish 100 to 200 proficient athletes throughout the nation and prepare them throughout completely different age teams for this Olympic cycle and the following Olympic cycle,” the supply stated.
“Immediately, there was a gathering of the sports activities minister with 58 corporates. They expressed their curiosity in the direction of such an initiative. The likes of the BCCI are able to handle all of the bills of two or three sports activities,” the supply added.
“BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla has expressed curiosity in growing Olympic coaching centres with no value to the federal government. There are sports activities like baseball that are just like cricket and the BCCI can do nice work there,” the supply stated.
The BCCI has supported Olympic sports activities up to now with monetary help to the Indian Olympic Affiliation final yr earlier than the 2024 Paris Olympics. The board gave Rs 8.5 crore to the IOA for the preparations of the quadrennial occasion.
India has 23 Nationwide Centres of Excellence operated by the Sports activities Authority of India (SAI). Nonetheless, solely three of them are devoted to at least one sport — Rohtak for boxing, Delhi for swimming and Delhi for capturing.
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Deliberation on OCI cardholders
The Sports activities Ministry can also be contemplating the concept of roping in gamers of Indian origin to enhance the usual of sports activities the place India lacks appreciable power on the worldwide degree.
Significantly in Indian soccer, there’s a faculty of considered giving an opportunity to those that are Abroad Residents of India (OCI). Whereas OCI cardholders are allowed to stay and work in India, they aren’t eligible to signify the nation on the worldwide degree.
In 2008, then Sports activities Minister MS Gill shaped a coverage that allowed solely Indian residents to signify the nation in worldwide sporting occasions, making Individual of Indian Origin (PIO) and OCI cardholders ineligible. The concept was to permit the expansion of home-grown expertise.
“We want to introduce a scheme the place we permit OCI to signify the nation, particularly in sports activities the place we’re weak, reminiscent of soccer. There isn’t any hurt in reconsidering as a result of we would like the most effective of our expertise to signify us,” a sports activities ministry official stated.