Sports Ministry to spend 95 crores for upgrading 8 Khelo India Centres of Excellence

The Sports Ministry is set to upgrade eight Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) at an estimated cost of Rs 95.19 crores with an aim to identify and groom future Olympic champions. Eight states that have been approved for setting up of KISCEs in the first leg are Odisha, Mizoram, Telengana, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.

The support will be in the form of infrastructure upgradation, setting up of sports science centre and also soft component in the form of quality coaches and sports science human resources like physiotherapists, strength and conditioning expert. High quality equipment will also be provided to the players. The academy will also have a High performance Manager to ensure quality sports science input and performance management. The ministry is upgrading existing sporting infrastructure in partnership with the states and Union Territories.

According to a sports ministry statement, each KISCE will be extended sports-specific support in 14 Olympic sport, of which one state or UT will be given support for a maximum of 3 sports. Speaking about the decision to set up the KISCEs, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said, "These Khelo India State Center of Excellence is yet another step towards building a robust sports ecosystem one one hand and India's pursuit of excellence in Olympics, on the other. These state-of-the-art centres will ensure that athletes proficient in a certain sport can be given the highest level of training and these centres become the best facilities in the country to train athletes in the priority sport for which they have been earmarked. I am confident this step will help to further India's effort of becoming one of the top 10 countries in the Olympics in 2028."

Also read: Developing future champions: Inside the high-performance centres of Bhubaneswar