Karnataka Government To Identify 1000 Players And Give Them World-Class Training

The Karnataka state government is committed to promoting sports at all levels and will consequently draft the newly designed sports policy bearing that in mind. The new sports policy will be announced along with the forthcoming budget. The new policy has been formulated after rigorous study and research and after taking suggestions from stakeholders. It would lay a strong foundation for sports in Karnataka.

According to a report in The Hindu, the Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports of Karnataka, Pramod Madhwaraj has revealed that his department has set a target to identify 1000 talented sportspersons from the state and provide them with world-class training.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a state-level Khelo India Swimming Championship for U-14 and U-17 boys and girls on Tuesday, Madhwaraj said that already 662 such sportspeople had been identified and they were registered online with their Aadhaar card numbers.

The government would take the help of big companies to train the prodigies and has also requested the companies to sponsor these sportspersons so as to bear the cost of training. The selected players would be given the advantage of utilising the world-class training facilities under the Union government.

The State government also announced that cash prizes of Rs 5 crore to be awarded to all the gold medallists at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. A sum of Rs 3 crore would be awarded to the silver medallists while the bronze medallists would receive a sum of Rs 2 crore.

Earlier, the Union Sports Ministry had decided to reduce the grant awarded under the Khelo India scheme from Rs 10 crore to Rs 3 crore. Madhwaraj said that despite his requests, the grants had not been increased. Consequently, the number of events held under the programme had to be reduced from eleven to eight. He added that the ongoing swimming championship was being held under the grant.