BENGALURU: Arunachal Pradesh has announced a collaboration with the GoSports Foundation to jointly design and implement an elite athlete development programme for supporting sporting talent from the North-Eastern state.
The initiative aims to select high-potential athletes and provide them with holistic support. The long-term objective of the programme is to identify and groom the athletes from the state to represent India at the Olympics in 2024 and 2028, according to a release issued by the state government’s sports department.
Sports Minister Mama Natung said: “We are delighted to launch this initiative, which will aim to provide athletes from our state with structured support to excel at the highest level. Our athletes have been performing well at various national and international events despite limited infrastructure.”
Deepthi Bopaiah, executive director of GoSports Foundation, said: “We feel privileged to be the knowledge partner of the Arunachal Pradesh Elite Athlete Development Programme.
“Since our inception in 2008, our attempt has been to create pathways to excellence for talented Indian athletes. We look forward to collaborating with the state of Arunachal Pradesh to script the sporting success of its best athletes.”
The programme aims to provide financial support and expertise to selected athletes across five sporting disciplines including judo, karate, boxing, wushu, and weightlifting, the release further states.
The programme also seeks to “upskill” the coaches in the state by introducing them to various experts and training them as per the international standards.
As part of a five-stage comprehensive selection process, 47 deserving applicants were identified, out of which 20 athletes have been shortlisted for the final stage.
However, the final stage of the selection process, which includes individual interviews and due diligence done by a group of experts, has been put on hold due to the ongoing pandemic situation.
On 14 July, an online orientation session was conducted by Gosports Foundation and the inaugural session was addressed by the state’s director of Sports Tadar Appa.
It was for the coaches and athletes to introduce the programme, and discuss their requirements at this stage.
Based on their requirements, similar online sessions with various experts will be conducted in the coming weeks. Until the situation returns to normal, these online sessions will provide an opportunity for them to improve on their skill-sets, the release concludes.
