Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, Central government will establish Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) under Khelo India Scheme. One KISCE would be identified in each state and union territory as an effort to create robust sporting ecosystem in the entire country. In the 1st leg, Sports Ministry had identified state owned facility reports in 8 states of India for development of KISCE. It includes Karnataka, Odisha, Kerala, Telangana and northeast states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.
The process of selection of these sports facilities was started in October 2019. Each state and UT was asked to identify the best infrastructure available with them, their agencies or any eligible agencies which could be developed into world class sporting facility.
Out of the 15 proposals received and examined, 8 have been shortlisted on the basis of training facilities available in priority sports, infrastructure facilities and champion produced by the centre.
Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) by Sports Ministry
To upgrade the existing centre to KISCE, central govt. will extend “Viability Gap Funding” in sports science and technology support for sports disciplines practiced at the centre. This would also bridge the gaps in requirement of sports equipment, expert coaches and high performance managers. The support extended for development of Khelo India State Centre of Excellence by Sports Ministry will be to olympic Sports. Support can be extended in sports science and allied fields in other sporting disciplines being run by the centre. In the 1st batch, the following sporting facilities will be upgraded to KISCE:-
- Sangey Lhaden Sports Academy, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
- Jaiprakash Narayan National Youth Centre, Bangalore, Karnataka
- GV Raja Sr. Secondary Sports School, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- Khuman Lampak Sports Complex, Imphal, Manipur
- Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Aizawl, Mizoram
- State Sports Academy, IG Stadium, Kohima, Nagaland
- Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha
- Regional Sports School, Hakimpet, Telangana
The state and UT will run the KISCE and build capacity to turn it into the world-class sporting facility. Moreover, the state and UT will be responsible for all aspects of management of KISCE centre including, boarding, lodging and maintenance. The funds for critical gaps such as expert coaches, support staff, equipment, infrastructure will be extended through the Khelo India Scheme.
Need to Setup KISCE to Better India’s Olympic Performance
The Khelo India State Centre of Excellence are going to be established to strengthen India’s pursuit of excellence in Olympics. The govt. is focusing on scaling up the best sporting facilities available in each state in India into academies of world-class standard. Here athletes from across the country will want to get training in their specific disciplines. The sporting facilities at KISCE centres have been identified after in-depth analysis by a government committee.
This KISCE initiative will tap talent from across the country and will provide them with training to convert them into elite athletes. These athletes can then win medals for the country in all major international tournaments and particularly in the Olympics. The 8 new KISCE centres will get grant on the basis of the actual amount finalized as per the requirement indicated after a comprehensive gap analysis study.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) will extend expertise, resources and a monitoring system to ensure that the level of performance of the athletes improves to international standards.