VIJAYANAGAR, KARNATAKA: The JSW Group inaugurated the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS), India’s first privately-funded high-performance training institute, at Vijaynagar in Karnataka’s Ballari district on Wednesday.
Located adjacent to group’s Vidyanagar township in Vijaynagar and covering an area of 42 acres, IIS is a unique initiative, aim of which being to bring a world class Olympic training centre to India that can provide Indian athletes access to the most advanced infrastructure, coaching and sports science within the country.
Spearheaded by $13 billion JSW Group scion Parth Jindal, founder – IIS & MD – JSW Cement Ltd, the institute was developed over the past four years and has already been home to close to 120 young athletes in wrestling, judo and boxing, who have been scouted from across the country. A track-and-field program has been introduced recently and a new batch of athletes would be joining the IIS in the coming month. A FINA-approved aquatics centre is scheduled to be operational in 2019. At the residential facility, the athletes selected are offered full scholarships and have access to training facilities, sports science and medicine support, and appropriate nutrition to ensure they are at par with similar facilities in developed sporting nations.
The unique initiative has seen JSW Group bring together 20 corporate donors, making IIS a first-of-its-kind collaborative effort by corporate India to supplement government efforts in supporting Indian Olympic sports.
Officially opening the doors of the institute to the public on the occasion of India’s Independence Day, Parth Jindal shared: “The Inspire Institute of Sport is not just another institute; it is a movement. It has been built for India, by Indians, to help athletes make a mark at the global stage. Our vision is for IIS to be the destination of choice for every Indian athlete who dreams of Olympic success. Through the institute, we want to create an environment where no talented athlete is deprived of success because of a lack of resources, infrastructure or training support.”
“We have done extensive planning and on-ground research before building this facility. We visited high performance centres across the world, collecting crucial insights into the functioning of such training institutes. We are committed to providing athletes at IIS a truly world-class training environment and have been encouraged by the feedback we have received so far,” said Mustafa Ghouse, CEO – JSW Sports & former Indian Davis-cupper and Asian Games medallist who has overseen the creation of the facility.
Led by Rushdee Warley (from South Africa), CEO – IIS, who has over two-decades of experience of working with elite athletes internationally, the IIS team is made up of close to 40 internationally-trained high-performance experts from eight countries. These experts are working collectively towards improving performances of these athletes. Head coaches include Mamuka Kizilashvili from Georgia (judo), Damien Jacomelli from France (wrestling), Ronald Simms Jr. from the United States (boxing) and Anthony Yaich from France (track & field). The coaches are supported by a team of sports scientists, exercise physiologists and physiotherapists.
Commenting on the functioning of the institute, Warley shared: “What we’re striving to create here is a world class daily training environment that offers athletes the opportunity to fulfil their potential. The combination of a great facility and great people will build a culture of high performance, the end product of which will be performances that are competitive internationally.”
The expansive campus at IIS can accommodate 300 athletes at full capacity and has the following infrastructure:
– IAAF approved 400m Athletics track
– Three Judo mats, Three Wrestling mats and Three Boxing rings
– 42,000 sq. ft. High-Performance Centre
– 16,000 sq ft. Strength and Conditioning area
– 5,000 sq. ft. cafeteria
– FINA-approved aquatics centre, scheduled to be operational in 2019
Since the institute commenced operations in April 2017, IIS has welcomed numerous elite Indian athletes for training at rehabilitation in the premises. Some of those who have already benefited from a stint at IIS include Commonwealth Games medallists Neeraj Chopra, Vikas Krishan Yadav and Vinesh Phogat, Rio Bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and talented young athletes like boxer Nikhat Zareen and high jumper Tejaswin Shankar. The facility also hosted pre-competition training camps for the Boxing Federation of India’s elite boxers, ISL team Bengaluru FC and the Yogeshwar Dutt Wrestling Academy.
Designed by award-winning architect Alok Shetty, IIS was recently accredited by the Sports Authority of India as a Khelo India academy and will be providing support and skill training to Khelo India scholarship supported athletes in boxing and wrestling.
The centre was inaugurated by Balbir Singh, a member of India’s Gold medal-winning hockey teams at the 1948, ’52 and ’56 Olympics; Abhinav Bindra, India’s first Olympic Gold medallist in shooting; Yogeshwar Dutt, a Bronze medallist in wrestling at the 2012 London Olympics; and 12-time doubles Grand Slam winner Mahesh Bhupathi, in addition to Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing director of the JSW Group and father of Parth Jindal.
Singh, Bindra, Dutt and Bhupathi were felicitated at the ceremony at IIS’s combat sports auditorium, in addition to Olympians such as Geeta Phogat, the first female wrestler from India to qualify for the Games; shooter Anjali Bhagwat, a finalist at Sydney 2000; judoka Cawas Billimoria, who participated in the 1988 and 1992 Games; and Vece Paes, a member of the Bronze medal-winning 1972 hockey team and the father of Indian tennis great Leander Paes.
