Junior athletes successful worldwide medals will not obtain money awards from the federal government. This main Sports activities Ministry coverage shift, which got here into impact on February 1, is aimed toward tackling the dual menace of doping and age fraud in addition to “protecting the starvation of children alive”.
In response to the previous system, a gold medal on the Junior World Championship would fetch an athlete roughly Rs 13 lakh whereas a prime of the rostrum end at Asian or Commonwealth had a money prize of Rs 5 lakh.
A Sports activities Ministry official stated one of many key components behind this determination was to advertise junior competitions as developmental occasions slightly than making all of it a few podium end.
“We seen that solely India follows a mannequin the place junior championships are given over-importance. Because of this, we now have seen that athletes work so onerous at this degree that by the point they attain the elite stage, they’re both burnt out or have misplaced the starvation,” the official stated.
The award coverage for senior athletes, too, has seen a rewrite. The Ministry has eliminated Commonwealth Championship and South Asian Video games from the occasions on the award checklist. Chess gamers successful Worldwide Grasp or Grandmaster norms, too, will not be incentivised.
In an obvious change of stance, following shooter Manu Bhaker’s unprecedented two bronze medals finally yr’s Paris Video games, sportspersons and their coaches will now be rewarded for “every medal gained” on the Olympics and World Championships. Akhara or academy the place a medalist educated shall be eligible for awards as nicely. The clause that barred an athlete’s “partner, father, mom, brother and sister” from receiving the award has been faraway from the revised coverage.
Over time, money incentives had been seen as one of many causes that pushed the athletes and their coaches into committing age fraud and doping offences. In response to Nationwide Anti-Doping Company information as of January 13, greater than 10% of the dope offenders in India since 2022 are minors — 22 out of 204.
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And whereas there isn’t a central system monitoring the variety of athletes who fudge their age, tons of have been suspended over the few years throughout sports activities — with many extra escaping the online.
“It may be stated that the money awards are one of many causes athletes are lured into adopting unfair means. Most of them come from humble backgrounds, so it’s a case of excessive danger, excessive reward for them,” stated one other official.
The choice to drop occasions just like the Commonwealth Championship and South Asian Video games, too, was taken to make sure athletes stay centered on competing in harder and extra vital worldwide occasions, just like the continental and world cups/championships.
In the meantime, athletes successful occasions just like the All-England Badminton Championship or the Candidates Event in chess shall be given the identical amount of money prize as World Championship winners, given the excessive normal of competitors there.
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