The government will select 1000 talented young athletes and spend Rs 5 lakh per year on the training of each of them, Sports Minister Vijay Goel said today.
Goel, who has completed a year in office, said the selected athletes will be funded by the government for eight consecutive years.
"Not only this, every year we will keep identifying talent and add them to the scheme," Goel, announced during an interaction at the Women's Press Club (IWPC) here.
However, Goel did not clarify what will be the criteria to pick those athletes, saying it is yet to be formulated.
Goel said Sports Ministry's Talent Search Portal is ready for launch and soon Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch it.
"It (portal) is being translated in Hindi and other regional languages. We want the Prime Minister to launch for obvious reason. It will become big event if he launches it," Goel said.
Asked about update on the inquiry involving para swimmer Kanchanmala Pande, who was left to fend for herself in Berlin due to lack of funds from PCI, Goel said, he is yet to get a report on the matter.
"In the next 10 days, I will be able to say something in this. Everyone has his own version. We had released funds on time. I don't want to interfere in the functioning of Federations but we are keeping a check," he said.
Talking about the pending Sports Code Bill, the minister said the revised Bill has something good in store for women but did not reveal much.
Goel also announced that a five-member High Powered Committee has been constituted to look into grievances of sports women. The Committee will be led by Kiran Soni Gupta, who is Additional Secretary in the ministry.
Asha Agarwal, Deputy Director (Sports), marathon runner Sunita Godhara, PTI's Sports Editor M R Mishra and Delhi High Court advocate Monica Arora are the other members.
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