Sports ministry scraps away cash incentives for junior and sub-junior athletes

In a major policy shift, the Sports Ministry has scrapped away the cash incentive system for medal-winning junior and sub-junior athletes.

The revised policy, effective from February 1, intends to tackle the menace of doping and age fraud and to keep the younger athletes hungry for success.

The ministry took this decision to promote junior competitions as developmental events, letting the athletes enjoy their sports instead of pushing too hard for early success.

“We noticed that only India follows a model where junior championships are given over-importance. As a result, we have noticed that athletes work so hard at this level that by the time they reach the elite stage, they are either burnt out or have lost the hunger,” a sports ministry official, quoted by Indian Express, said.

A junior athlete, until now was rewarded around Rs 13 lakh for winning gold at the Junior World Championship, while a sub-junior athlete was eligible for Rs 6.66 lakh for winning a gold medal. 

These changes are done under the purview of "simplifying the disbursement of cash incentives to the medal winners in international sports event and their coaches."

Chess players, who so far were entitled to Rs 4 lakh for attaining the Grandmaster title, are no longer eligible for such benefit, as per the new policy.

Increased rewards for para-athletes

In another shift in the policy, athletes who win medals at the world and continental championships of Yogasana, Mallakhamb, E-sports, and Break-dancing have become eligible for cash incentives.

Kho-kho has also made its way to the reward roaster, along with Kurash, a variant of wrestling, and Ju-Jitsu, a martial arts discipline.

The ministry has listed a total of 51 sports that will be eligible for cash rewards, which included all the disciplines that are a part of the Olympic Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and the World University Games.

Interestingly, the South Asian Games have been excluded from the list of eligible events for prize money.

The ministry has increased the prize money for medal winners of events featuring deaf, blind, and intellectually challenged athletes to Rs.20 lakh for a gold medal at a world event.

The circular also made it clear that there would not be a cash reward for medals won at world or continental events where "the number of teams, in any event, is less than four."

The full prize money would be awarded if the event has at least 16 participating countries in individual events and 12 in team events.

However, the reward would be halved if the participating countries for individual events do not touch eight, and for team events don't cross six.

Cash rewards for grassroots coaches

According to the revised policy, 30 per cent of the total cash incentive will be awarded to the athlete's grassroots coach, who identified and nurtured the athlete.

Added to that, the developmental-level coaches who took the athlete to a 'medal-winning sportsperson' are also now eligible for a 30 per cent cash incentive of the total.

In the case of elite coaches, who provided 'advanced training' to the athlete, the share is 40 per cent of the cash incentive.