Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports revises Scheme of Assistance to NSFs, 13 Sports to adopt league culture

These reforms aim to build a robust, accountable, and performance-driven sports ecosystem, ensuring alignment with India's long-term goal of becoming a global sporting powerhouse and eventual host of the 2036 Olympic Games.

Games that are under operation in leagues include Hockey, Kabaddi, Shooting, and Yogasana. Games in which progress is going on for a league culture include Cycling and Rugby.

Under planning leagues include Basketball, Badminton, Archery, Boxing, Wrestling, White Water Sports and Polo.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports had revised the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs; the last revision was in February 2022. The revision follows the commencement of a new Olympic Cycle post-Paris Olympics 2024, reflecting India's aspirations to host the 2036 Olympic Games and addressing emerging challenges.

Revision considers increased costs due to inflation in training, infrastructure development, equipment procurement, and athlete welfare. Financial assistance for conducting National Championships increased to 90 lakhs for high priority sports, 75 lakhs for priority sports (Up from the previous limit of Rs51 lakh). Financial assistance for hosting International Tournaments in India doubled to Rs2 crore.

Pro Kabaddi League and Hockey India League are one of the major sports leagues of the country. Hockey India League was founded in 2013 as a part of Hockey India's attempt to develop an International Hockey Federation-sanctioned league.

The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is an Indian professional Kabaddi league for men. It was founded in 2014, It is the most popular kabaddi league in the world.

Salary Hikes for Coaches:

Chief National Coach: from 5 lakh to 7.5 lakh per month, other Coaches: from 2 lakh to 3 lakh per month. Diet Charges increased significantly, senior athletes: from 690 to 1000 per day per athlete, for junior athletes: from 480 to 850 per day per athlete.

Focus on Grassroots and Athlete Development:

NSFs must earmark at least 20% of their annual budget for grassroots development, channelled through affiliate units for junior/youth development.

NSFs of High Priority and Priority sports disciplines shall identify a probable group of athletes in two categories of Senior Group and Junior Group with high performance potential.

These athletes will be trained at accredited academies, selected by NSFs through a fair and transparent process. The training programme delivered at these accredited academies for a particular sport will be monitored by the High Performance Director (HPD) of the respective sport.

Each Probable Group athlete is to receive Rs10,000 per month as dietary allowance during non-camp days, so that they are not deprived of a proper diet.

At least 10% of Scheme funds will be allocated for:

Coach and technical staff development, conduct of training courses in India, courses for Indian personnel abroad, development of coaching curriculum, conduct of Conferences, seminars, workshops, Inviting Foreign/Indian experts for conduct of workshops/courses, conduct of national and international certification courses, all NSFs to have a Coaching Education Expert dedicated to the training of trainers, foreign Experts shall also mandatorily train and build capacity of local officials and coaches during non-training periods as part of Key Results Areas (KRAs). (ANI)