Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports through Sports Authority of India (SAI) has been running the following sports promotional schemes under which the selected sportspersons in various age groups, from 8 years onwards, are admitted for regular training including both residential and non- residential in SAI Sports Centres to nurture them to excel at National and International competitions:
National Sports Talent Contest (NSTC) (61 Centres)
Army Boys Sports Company (ABSC) (26 Centres)
SAI Training Centre (STC) (59 Centres)
Special Area Games (SAG) (21 Centres)
Extension Centres of STC/SAG (90 Centres)
Centre of Excellence (COE) (16 Centres)
National Sports Academies (NSA)
The selected trainees whose residential places are far from the centres are provided with the residential facilities under various sports promotional schemes over the other local trainees.
To encourage sports among the youth across the country, the sportspersons admitted under above mentioned schemes on Residential & Non-Residential basis, are provided financial assistance in the form of discipline-wise expert coaches, indoor/outdoor playing facilities, sports equipment (Consumable/ Non-consumable), sports kit, competition exposure, stipend, insurance, boarding expenses, medical expenses and education expenses.
The trainees admitted under the various residential schemes of SAI are provided training and are allowed to attend the school nearby to the SAI training centres. SAI pays the education expenses to the admitted residential trainees to continue their education while undergoing training in their respective sports disciplines.
Accordingly, SAI has established 10 Regional Centres and 02 Academic Institutions to implement the various Sports Promotional Schemes across the country through its 273 sports centres. Presently, 14236 talented sports persons including 8698 (residential trainees) are being trained in 27 sports disciplines.
With an aim to attract talented sportspersons from all over the country, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports through Sports Authority of India launched the National Talent Search Portal (NTSP) in 2017. It has been so designed that any sports persons across the country can submit online application for admission in any of the SAI Training Centres (STC)/ Special Area Games (SAG)/ SAI Extension Centre by uploading his/ her profile on the inbuilt format of the portal. The received applications are scrutinised by the NTSP cell and eligible applicants are sent to the STC preferred by the applicants. The sportspersons across the country can submit online application for admission in any of the STC/ SAG/ Extension Centre by uploading his/her profile on the inbuilt format of the portal. The portal is user friendly and easy to access.
Identification, selection and admission of the talented sports persons under various SAI sports promotional schemes is a continuous and dynamic process involving induction of new talents each year, retention of earlier talents who are able to adhere to the prescribed levels of performance and achieve the targets set for the year, and weeding out those trainees who do not come up to expected levels. As such the built in processes takes care of absorbing and nurturing the talented players as and when they are identified and admitted into the schemes.
This information was given by the Minister of State (I/C) Shri Kiren Rijiju in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
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