Following up in its efforts to push for greater grassroots development of sports and infrastructure, the Sports Ministry has now decided to set up Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCE) under Khelo India.
While KISCE would be identified in every state, the first phase of the scheme will see eight state-owned facilities being upgraded. The eight have been selected on the basis of facilities available in priority sports, infrastructure and past champions.
The ministry said the process of selection and shortlisting of venues to be developed into world-class facilities began in October 2019 but only 15 proposals were received for the same. Interestingly, the northern and western parts of the country including the national capital have not found favour in the first phase. While four of these are in the North East, three are in south India. The eighth one would be at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.
READ: SAI spends ₹8.25 crore on Khelo India athletes’ out-of-pocket allowance
While the Sports Ministry would provide a ‘Viability Gap Funding’ through Khelo India for sports science and technology support, along with equipment, coaches and high performance managers at the centres, the operational management including identifying talent, boarding, lodging and maintenance would remain with the state.
“The Khelo India State Centre of Excellence are being established to strengthen India’s pursuit for excellence at the Olympics. Our effort is to scale up the best sporting facilities available in each state in India into world-class academies,” Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said.
The actual amount provided would be decided after a comprehensive gap analysis study.
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