SAI officer awarded UK Chevening scholarship
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
11 hours ago
- India Today
Australia ready to offer expertise as India aims to host Olympics in 2036
As the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) continues its ambitious pursuit of hosting the 2036 Olympic Games, Australia has stepped forward to extend its support in helping India build the capabilities required for such a monumental an exclusive interaction with Sports Today, Australia's High Commissioner, Philip Green, expressed a strong interest in collaborating with India and described the potential for a 'genuine partnership' between the two nations in the field of global do want to broaden the conversation beyond cricket because Australia will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2032, and India has its hand up for the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, and maybe even the Asian Games. We believe there's a really good partnership to be built here,' Green said. Highlighting Australia's experience, Green pointed to the country's track record of hosting global sporting spectacles, including the Summer Olympics in 1956 (Melbourne) and 2000 (Sydney), along with multiple editions of the Commonwealth Games in 1982, 2006, and 2018. He underlined how Australia's expertise in delivering events of such magnitude could be valuable for India as it prepares to make its case for the Olympics.'Australia has strong capabilities in elite sport. We were fourth on the medal table last time and we also know a great deal about running major sporting events: building stadiums, marketing, security, ticketing, all the disciplines needed. We would very much like to partner with India as it develops its capability for hosting such events,' Green High Commissioner also pointed to Australia's role in India's growing sports infrastructure. Notably, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad—the world's largest cricket stadium—was designed by an Australian firm. Green highlighted this as a symbol of how both nations could cooperate on a larger scale.'Why not the Olympics? After all, the Narendra Modi Stadium was designed by an Australian firm, which is also working on other sports precincts in India—that's incredible,' he India openly expressing its intention to bid for the 2036 Olympics, Australia's willingness to share expertise signals the start of what could be a major sporting partnership between two cricketing powerhouses looking to expand their influence across global sport.- EndsTrending Reel
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
12 hours ago
- First Post
AIFF's government funding slashed by half as Sports Ministry awards massive hike to yoga
Football has been among the biggest losers in Indian sport when it comes to receiving government funding, its allocation coming down to Rs 8.78 crore from Rs 15 crore in 2022-23 and Rs 30 crore in 2019-20. Yoga, on the other hand, has received a hike of nearly 400 per cent from the sports ministry. While Indian football has been among the biggest losers in terms of government funding, yoga has received a major push. PTI Yoga emerged the biggest beneficiary of the Government of India's allocation of budget for various sports, receiving a hike of nearly 400 per cent compared to what it was receiving in 2022-23. Football, a sport that is perceived to be in a state of crisis in the cricket-mad nation, were in for another blow with their financial assistance slashed by half. Sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya revealed the figures during the ongoing monsoon session of the parliament, responding to a question from BJP MP Sadanand Tanavade in the Rajya Sabha. Besides yoga and football, table tennis received a 50 per cent hike while athletics received a minor reduction in their assistance. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Yogasana India had been receiving Rs 1.3 crore in 2022-23, but are now set to receive Rs 4.89 crore – which is close to the Rs 5.2 crore that has been set aside for the All India Chess Federation. At the same time, it will be getting a higher share of the government funding pie compared to basketball (Rs 4.75 crore in 2024-25), volleyball (Rs 4.39 crore) and squash (Rs 4.45 crore). 'As a federation, we started getting funding very recently from the government. Unlike many other sports that have come to India from abroad, we are taking India's heritage to the world. For that, we need to do substantial work,' Yogasana India president Udit Sheth was quoted by The Indian Express as saying. The Kalyan Chaubey-led All India Football Federation – which currently finds itself mired in crisis over the fate of the Indian Super League – witnessed its government funding reduced by nearly half from Rs 15 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 8.78 crore in 2024-25. This is, after all, the same sport that used to receive Rs 30 crore from the Centre not too long ago (2019-20). Athletics and boxing have had minor reductions as well. The allocation for the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) currently stands at Rs 26 crore from Rs 30 crore in 2022-23 while the corresponding figure for the Boxing Federation of India stands at Rs 22 crore from Rs 24 crore in 2022-23. Yoga is a demonstration sport at next year's Asian Games in Japan and will also likely be included in the 2030 Commonwealth Games should India win the hosting rights for the event. The push in the yoga budget might have been made keeping this events in mind.
NDTV
12 hours ago
- NDTV
Parliamentary Committee Raises Concerns On SAI's Financial Health, Lack Of Spending In Khelo India
Declaring Sports Authority of India (SAI) "critically" under-funded and under-staffed, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on sports has observed that India's international performances are "far from satisfactory" and also raised concerns around the lack of fund utilisation in the government's flagship Khelo India Scheme. The Committee, headed by Congress' Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh, observed that SAI's financial health is crucial to the country's international medal performance and urged the Sports Ministry to not just increase the allocation but also have a targetted approach towards those sports in which India is likely to win more medals. "....identify with clinical precision few sporting events in which we have got best chance to win medals and divert most of the resources at hand in nurturing the talents in such sports so that they reach international standards and win medals for the country," it noted. The committee, which also includes cricketer and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh, and BJP's Sambit Patra and Bansuri Swaraj among others, expressed "grave" concern over the shortage of staff and low funding of SAI. "The Committee is contrained (sic) to observe that the budget of SAI is critically national Centres of Excellence all over the country are required. This obviously needs higher budgetary allocation for the SAI. "...about 45 per cent of sanctioned posts in the Authority are presently lying vacant. The fact that these shortfalls in staff are being managed through contractual appointment may at best be only an ad hoc arrangement. "Substantial staff crunch in coaching and scientific cadres is indeed very alarming as it substantially undermines the coaching of athletes and jeopardize their chances to win medals," it pointed out. The panel "heard the views of Sports Secretary, and SAI representatives in its meeting held on June 6". It commended the recruitment drive to fill up these vacancies but asked the sports ministry to complete the process in the next six months and "furnish an Action Taken Report." While appreciating the sports ministry's efforts, the panel stated that the achievements on ground in terms of medals won in the major international sports events like Olympics are far from satisfactory. "...even though the medal tally in international sporting events has improved compared to the past, we still need to assiduously work on it. It is extremely painful that we being a country of approximately 1.4 billion populations could not win even a single gold medal in the last Olympics in 2024 and most of the Olympics before that," it stated. "...there is some gap or deficiency at the policy level in this Committee notes with appreciation that efforts of the Ministry and the corporate contribution in the development of sports ecosystem in the country is showing of late, some positive results." Concerns around Khelo India ================== The panel also noted with "concern" that during the last two financial years, the funds for government's flagship Khelo India Scheme have been diverted to National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs) of SAI. "This diversion has denied precious funds of Rs 38.79 crores to the Khelo India Scheme. This is more alarming as 122.30 crore of allocated funds under this scheme has also been returned to the Consolidated Fund of India," it observed. "...such practice of diversion of funds from one central scheme to another is not a healthy one as it reflects poor estimation, planning and implementation on the part of a Central Scheme." The Committee revealed that the Khelo India Scheme has been approved by the cabinet from 2021-22 to 2025-26. It recommended that the scheme be embedded in the SAI's operational structure thereafter. "As such, the current Khelo India Scheme is operational till 31st March 2026. The Committee notes that the lapsing of the Khelo India scheme offers the department an opportunity to permanently embed the Khelo India scheme in the organizational structure of SAI and to create dedicated staff positions within SAI to carry out the functions of the Khelo India scheme. "Accordingly, the Committee recommends that the budget for the Sports Department be sustained and that the SAI take over the existing responsibilities of Khelo India, including the disbursal of funds to other government agencies," it stated. The report also said that the ministry has acknowledged that an amount of Rs. 19.50 crore was allocated for play-field development under the Khelo India Scheme but has not been spent "due to lack of proposal from eligible entities".
