(a) whether the Ministry proposes to establish National Centres of Excellence to groom athletes;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether there is any long term plan to identify and develop talent in Olympics sports;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) whether the Ministry proposes to establish additional Sports Authority of India training centres or upgrade existing training facilities, especially in Kerala and if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS
(SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)
(a) & (b) Recently the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) by merging the existing scheme under Sports Authority of India (SAI) has established 21 National Centres of Excellence (NCoE) across the country to impart specialized training to promising athletes by providing state of the art infrastructure and training facilities, sports science backup, individualized diet prescribed by trained nutritionists with overall supervision of the best coaches, qualified
support staff and High Performance Directors. The list of the 21 NCoEs with details of the sports disciplines catered to by respective NCoE is at Annexure-I.
(c) & (d) ‘Sports’ being a State subject, the responsibility of promotion of sports, including scouting talent and its nurturing, rests with State/ Union Territory (UT) Governments. Central Government supplements the efforts of State/ UT Governments and National Sports Federations (NSFs) under its various schemes such as Khelo India, Assistance to National Sports Federations and by providing training facilities in various Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centres.
SAI, an autonomous body under this Ministry is implementing the various Sports Promotional Schemes to identify talented sportspersons in the age group of 8-25 years and nurture them to excel at national and international competitions. Besides, through Khelo India Games, Annual Sports Competitions are organised which help in identification of talented sportspersons.
The talents identified are provided support and coaching, in SAI centres and Khelo India accredited academies as well as suitable exposures in competitions, to groom them towards becoming elite sportspersons to represent India in future international events including Olympics.
(e) The Sports infrastructure facilities available with Sports Authority of India (SAI) have sufficient capacity to provide quality training to larger number of athletes and hence, at present there is no proposal to open any new Training Institute/ Training Centre. Sports infrastructure at NCoE at Thiruvananthapuram and Alleppey are planned to be upgraded by bridging gap in the infrastructure. The number of training facilities run by this Ministry in the State of Kerala is at Annexure- II.
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