Sports Ministry to Set up 20 'National Centres of Excellence' with Eye on Olympics 2024

New Delhi, September 21, 2019:

The Union Sports Ministry will set up 20 National Centres of Excellence (NCE) across the Nation.

The centres will have the distinction of having a single scheme running in them for elite athletes. With this move, the Government aims to end disparity in training and other facilities between athletes within the same campus.

According to Sports Authority of India, each Centre of Excellence will be earmarked for four to six specific sports, depending on the infrastructure available and will train athletes in the developmental group for the 2024 Olympics.

The scheme will ensure that athletes in the same premises have access to similar facilities. The decision comes just a few months after it was announced that the budget for the diet of athletes will be made equal, irrespective of the level at which the athlete is training.

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Although the 'National Center of Excellence' will be reserved for athletes training for Olympics, grassroots level athletes will be trained at other SAI facilities will be upgraded to NCE depending on performance and possibility of an Olympic medal.

The two-tier training system will ensure that athletes get focused training at both the levels.

The 20 SAI facilities that have been identified as 'National Centre of Excellence' include, SAI centres in Patiala, Trivandrum, Chandigarh, Sonepat, Lucknow, Guwahati, Imphal, Kolkata, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gandhinagar, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi, Indira Gandhi Stadium, Delhi, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Delhi, Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, Delhi, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee Swimming Pool Complex, Delhi, National Water Sports Academy (Khelo India), Alleppey, National Boxing Academy (Khelo India), Rohtak, National Wrestling Academy (Khelo India), Aurangabad.

Reacting to this move, Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said that standardising the training on campus will enable athletes to attain much higher performances in their respective sport. He further added that the Government is working in close co-ordination with NSFs to ensure a smooth transition of India's existing facilities into National Centre of Excellence and to identify more centres.

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