NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has formed two special committees of experts with the stated mandate to select and groom sports talent in the national capital region.
The two committees have among their members sportspersons like Olympic medalist Karnam Malleshwari and shooter Gagan Narang, as well as Rajeev Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto Limited, a state government official told PTI.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday chaired two important meetings with the special committees of experts to discuss further modalities for implementation of the government’s policies to support budding sportspersons in the city.
Sisodia said the problem in sports administration is that the decision making powers are held by those who have had no link with sports in their lives.
The Delhi government recently announced two new policies to promote sportspersons and groom talent in Delhi. It also “substantially” hiked cash awards for sportspersons winning medals in Asian Games, PTI reports.
Under the Play & Progress Scheme’, talent in sports at school level, below 14 years, will get Rs 200,000 per annum directly from the Delhi government. Students in 14-17 years bracket will get Rs 300,000 per annum.
Any student who has studied in Delhi for the past three years is eligible for financial assistance, and such students will also be eligible for specialised training at designated centres, the official told the newswire.
The games shortlisted for this scheme are athletics, badminton, swimming, hockey, wrestling, cricket, football, boxing, gymnastics, Kabaddi, basketball, Judo/Karate, table tennis and Baseball. Specialised training for these sportspersons is available at 18 centres in the city including at Chhatrasal stadium, Thyagraj stadium, East Vinod Nagar sports complex, Najafgarh stadium among others.
Additionally, there is the ‘Mission Excellence’ policy that is targeted to benefit sportspersons already established in sporting world. The state government will provide funds for training and coaching of 100 Delhi based sportspersons under the scheme.
