Sports Ministry earmarks Rs 258.39 cr for preparation of athletes under ‘Opex 2012, London’

New Delhi, June 9, 2011: The Sports Ministry has earmarked Rs 258.39 crore for preparation of athletes under “Project Opex 2012” for London Olympics. This was announced by Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken at a press conference here.

Giving further details, Maken stated that based on the approved funding norms, which are at par with CWG-2010 scales, with further up scaling in certain areas such as lodging, nutrition and scientific support, daily allowance etc, the budget has been estimated for about Rs 258.39 crore for the period April, 2011 to August, 2012.

The Sports Minister also disclosed that steering committee chaired by secretary, Department of Sports has finalized action plans in all the 16 disciplines. The committee is represented by president and secretaries of the respective federation, national coaches, government observers and officers from international sports division, Sports Authority of India and Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

In the first round of Steering Committee meeting, the list of core probables, foreign and Indian coaches, supporting personnel, duration and venues of national coaching camps, international exposures and qualifying competitions have been identified and finalized.

The apex committee chaired by Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports had held its meeting and given overall guidance to the preparations, Maken added.

Elaborating on the coaching of athletes, Maken said that the national coaching camps and international exposures in all the disciplines except swimming have been started.

The national coaching camp in swimming will start from June 15, 2011. Since this is a preparatory phase for the sports persons, emphasis is being given for their strong foundation in terms of general and specific physical fitness, skills and tactics. The strategic planning for qualifying tournaments is being prepared by the national coaches in consultation with foreign coaches. A total of 28 foreign coaches have been selected for engagement. 17 coaches have joined and 11 are in the process of joining. 29 foreign exposures have been completed till date.

The Sports Minister also disclosed that 32 Govt. observers in the identified disciplines have been appointed to ensure the effective conduct of the national coaching camps and for fair selection of players for international exposures and qualifying competitions.

With a view to ensuring best possible nutrition and diet to national athletes, the Sports Minister stated that he is appointing a three-member committee of experts. In addition to this, a three-member oversight committee consisting of one member each from IOA, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and sport discipline is also being constituted which will visit the national camps periodically to check the standards of food and of other infrastructure in these camps.

To ensure speedy clearance of teams and individuals for participation abroad, Maken stated that the complete process of clearance has been now entrusted to SAI by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports since April, 2011. A special cell in the teams division in SAI has been created for this purpose.

To overcome the persistent problem of delay towards clearance, it has now been intimated to the concerned federations that their proposals for participation in various international exposures, training, competition, etc. should be submitted to SAI well in advance. The clearance would be a 2-stage process. In the first stage, financial sanctions including logistics details would be issued based on number of players, coaches, etc. In the second stage, approval of names of selected players, coaches, etc., which would have been duly approved by the selection committee, would be conveyed.

Further, it will be necessary for the federations to conduct selection trials as per laid down criteria and the individuals/teams are selected by the duly constituted committee as per Government guidelines. This should be done by the federations at least one month in advance. The proceedings of the selection committee should also be submitted to SAI.

The London Olympics 2012 will be held from July 27, 2012 to August 13, 2012 with 26 sports disciplines.

Keeping in view the performance of Indian teams/individuals in Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and other international tournaments 16 disciplines, namely, archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, gymnastics, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling have been identified for systematic and scientific training.

The Government has launched Operation Excellence (OPEX) “Project Opex 2012” on mission mode in March this year, which is funded under the Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations, supplemented by National Sports Development Scheme.

Union Sports Ministry Press Release