Sandip Pradhan will leave the office of director-general of the Sports Authority of India on completion of his tenure, with sports secretary Sujata Chaturvedi taking over his role on an interim basis, the Union Sports Ministry announced on Tuesday.
“Consequent upon the completion of Central deputation tenure of Shri Sandip M. Pradhan for the post of director-general, Sports Authority of India (SAI), on 30.09.2024, the Competent Authority has approved the entrustment of additional charge of the post of Director-General, Sports Authority of India (SAI) to Smt. Sujata Chaturvedi, Secretary (Sports) w.e.f. 01.10.2024, and till the appointment of a regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” a statement from deputy sports secretary SK Sinha reads.
Pradhan, an Indian Revenue Office of the 1990 batch, had taken over as D-G in August 2019 from Neelam Kapoor, with India seeing two successful Olympic and Paralympics cycles under him, in Tokyo and Paris, respectively.
One of Pradhan’s major achievements during his tenure was the expansion of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), started in 2014.
For 2024, our plan is already in place. We have a Target Olympic Podium committee, and many of those who are around are also a part of the committee. We have the sub-committees in place to analyse the individual game. At present we have around 98 athletes preparing for 2024 that includes 40 para athletes and 168 athletes we are supporting for 202,” Pradhan had said at a Sportstar Conclave last year.
“We already had a discussion with the federation and – not just me but also our committees and sub-committees. All the federations have given a plan for the Paris Olympics and also for the Asian Games which is a very important milestone.”
