Sports Ministry wants alliance with SAI, Armed Forces

Sports Minister Jitendra Singh today held a meeting with SAI and different wings of armed forces with the purpose of forming an alliance among all the bodies and work together towards the development of sports in the country.
The aim of this meeting was to identify and nurture sports talent among the young and, through a scientific and disciplined approach, develop some of them into world class sportsmen.
Singh, who chaired the meeting, proposed that SAI (Sports Authority of India) and the armed forces get together and develop Centres of Excellence that would be in synergy with each other and serve the needs of sportspersons as a whole.

He stressed on the need to increase the number of Army Boys Sports Companies (ABSCs) and to set up similar companies in the Air Force as well.
The Minister requested the armed forces to participate in the other programme/schemes of Ministry for scouting talent through the scheme like Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) with an aim to reach out to young talent at village, block level and district level.
During the meeting, the representatives of the Army agreed to establish about 38 new training centres on the pattern of ABSCs in a phased manner and out of which 15 sports companies would be established in the next 18 months.

The Navy expressed its interest in starting similar sports companies for yachting and sailing, swimming, boxing and weightlifting. It also expressed interest at setting up Centre of Excellence for yachting.
The Air Force committed to develop centres in two phases. The first phase would be to institute sports companies in the discipline of hockey, football and weightlifting, while in the second phase, disciplines like wrestling and shooting would be included.
The meeting was attended by Secretary of Sports, Director General, Military Training, Chief of Personnel for Sports, Navy, Chairman, Air Force Sports Control Board, Secretary, Services Sports Control Board and officers from SAI.