Question : Khelo India School Games

(a) whether the Government has decided to celebrate the year 2018 as the Year of Sports and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government has recently organised “Khelo India School Games” to provide platform for children to nurture talent and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has constituted a Talent Identification and Development Committee to scout for potential sportspersons and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the other measures being taken by the Government for naturally gifted/ talented youngsters to excel in competitive sports and create a pool of highly competitive athletes who can win at the International events?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
FOR YOUTH AFFAIRS & SPORTS
{COL. RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE (RETD.)}

(a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *383 FOR 22.03.2018 ASKED BY SHRIMATI ANJU BALA AND SHRI TEJ PRATAP SINGH YADAV, MPS, REGARDING KHELO INDIA SCHOOL GAMES
(a) At present, there is no specific proposal to celebrate the year 2018 as the Year of Sports in this Ministry.
(b) & (c) The 1stKhelo India School Games, 2018, which were held in Delhi from 31st January to 8th February, 2018 witnessed participation of 3507 athletes from 29 States and 7 Union Territories (UTs).
A total of 563 athletes have been identified/selected so far under the „Talent Search and Development? vertical of Khelo India Scheme in the first year for support under a Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) programme, majority of whom have been identified from the Khelo India School Games held this year. Process of further scrutinizing these names is underway.
Khelo India vertical of „Talent Identification and Development? provides for three tiered structure including Talent Identification& Development Committee (TIDC) for selection of the players.
(d) The other major measures that are being taken by this Ministry to create of a pool of competitive athletes and help talented youngsters excel in competitive sports, including International events are as under :-

i. Financial assistance is given to National Sports Federations (NSFs) under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs for various activities, such as, holding coaching camps for national level sportspersons, national championships for sub-junior, junior and senior categories, organizing international tournaments in India, participation in international tournaments abroad, procurement of sports/sports science equipment and consumables, engagement of foreign coaches/experts to train athletes, etc.
ii. Sports Authority of India (SAI), an autonomous body under the aegis of Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, is implementing the following sports promotional schemes across the country to identify talented sports persons in the age group of 8-25 years and nurture them to excel at national and international competitions :
. National Sports Talent Contest Scheme (NSTC)
. Army Boys Sports Company (ABSC)
. SAI Training Centre (STC)
. Special Area Games (SAG)
. Extension Centre of STC/SAG
. Centre of Excellence (COE)
. National Sports Academies (NSA)
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