Govt decided to establish 1000 Khelo India Centers at the district level

Government of India has decided to establish 1000 Khelo India Centers (KIC) at the district level across the country. These centers will either be run by a past champion or have them as coaches.

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Key-Points

The move is to tap into the expertise of past sporting champions for grassroot-level training of athletes and also to ensure a sustained source of income for them in the sports ecosystem.

Training will be imparted at the Khelo India Centres in 14 Identified Sports for Excellence in Olympics (ISEO) including archery, athletics, boxing, badminton, cycling, fencing, hockey, judo, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, weightlifting, wrestling. Football and traditional sports have also been included.

A shortlisting mechanism has been put in place to identify past champions who are eligible to either establish their own academy or work as a coach in a KIC.

The grant to each KIC will be extended for remuneration of the past champion athlete as coach, support staff, purchase of equipments, sports kits, consumables, participation in competition and events.

The process of identifying new KICs will be carried out by the sports department of the respective state and union territory in liaison with District Collectors and the proposal will be forwarded to the Sports Authority of India’s regional centre for further evaluation.