Assam's Sarusajai Sports academy and 5 other centers to be developed as Khelo India Center of Excellence: Kiren Rijiju.

New Delhi: The Sports Ministry has on Saturday sanctioned Rs. 67.32 crore for the upliftment of six centers as Khelo India Centre of Excellence (KISCE) in an effort to identify and groom Olympic level talent.

Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, Sports Minister twitted, "6 more centers approved and amount sanctioned to be developed as Khelo India Center of Excellence."

The identified centers are as follows:

1. Assam: States Sports Academy, Sarusajai - Rs 7.96 crore

2. Meghalaya: J N S Complex, Shillong, Meghalaya - Rs 8.39 crore

3. Sikkim: Paljor Stadium, Gangtok - Rs 7.91 crore

4. Daman & Diu: New Sports Complex Silvassa - Rs 8.05 crore

5. Madhya Pradesh: MP State Academy- Rs 19 crore

6. Maharashtra: Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune- Rs 16 crore

Rijiju, while speaking about the initiative in an official statement stated that the support to the centers will be in the form of infrastructure upgradation, setting up of sports science centres, and also a soft component in the form of quality coaches and sports science human resources like physiotherapists, strength & conditioning experts and so on. This initiative is a step towards the prime vision of making India one of the top 10 countries in Olympics 2028. "Unless we can provide world-class specialized training, we cannot expect athletes to excel at the Olympics", he said.

"Each of these centers will provide world-class training in a specific sporting discipline and will become the main facility in the country where elite athletes of that sport will train. I am happy that each state has supported this initiative of the center with great positivity and enthusiasm," he added.

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