Rajyavardhan Rathore inaugurates National workshop on “Sports for All” in New Delhi

Around 80 representatives from Indian Olympic Association, Department of Sports , Sports Authority of India, National Observers , National Sports Federations of high priority and priority disciplines, SGFI and AIUs, Sports Secretaries of the states and the Union Territories, Ssports promotion boards and sports promotion NGOs, are participating in the workshop..

One of the key objectives of the workshop was to bring about convergence among all the stakeholders and create a shared vision in order to harness the multiple benefits that sports offer.

Inaugurating the workshop, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore said that a massive overhaul of the entire sporting system is underway with the Khelo India initiative of the government.

He said the Khelo India scheme is not limited to development of stadiums; it will also work for the development of athletes and the nation. Khelo India is about broad-basing sports, providing opportunities for playing, creating competition, picking up talent and also awareness of physical fitness and good health.

The minister said, "There is a need to create multiple levels of competition. Unfortunately, when we ask which domestic national competitions, it takes some time for people to give an answer. School Games Federation of India (SGFI) has been conducting games at school-level for ages, but nobody knows about it."

He said, "We are going to launch a new programme, 'Khelo India School Games' in December 2017. Out of these, we would select 1,000 athletes and support them with resources equivalent to Rs 5 lakh per year for eight years. And every year, we will keep adding 1,000 athletes. This will help in creating amazing bench strength in this country across multiple sports."

The minister said that to spot the talent, the government has recently launched the National Sports talent search portal on which anyone from anywhere in the country can send us a video of athletes for evaluation of their performance and further training by experts to make them better athletes for domestic and international competitions.

The minister said not only athletes but also the government is focusing on creating a bank of coaches with constant up gradation of their coaching skills on a regular basis.

Col. Rathore said his ministry is creating an IT-based structure where every athlete, from the moment he makes a mark, is tracked. There will be a central database, which can be accessed by anyone who is conducting a competition.

The aim is that athletes can focus on their sport without any artificially created hurdles.

He said all the coaches, managers and institutions taking care of these athletes need to be reporting to the ministry with their progress on a daily basis.

The Minister said all the stakeholders in sports have to bring professionalism, responsibility and accountability for promotion of sports in the country and the government will have zero tolerance towards misgovernance in sports bodies in different disciplines.

On its part the government will hire high performance managers who can deliver the desired results in a professional manner, the minister said.

Image: PIB