SAI centre, the go-to venue for athletes seeking world-class facilities at home
With a cumulative investment exceeding ₹140 crore, the Sports Authority of India's Southern Centre has undergone a major transformation in the last decade. Besides the three NCOEs for comprehensive training across age-groups, the centre also hosts national camps in table tennis, kabaddi and water polo and conducts academic programmes in 11 disciplines.
The 3000m steeplechase national record holder Avinash Sable said the venue had always helped him perform well at major competitions. 'I came here for the first time in 2017 and things have changed a lot. The recovery centre is new, there are two synthetic tracks, experts for physiotherapy, medicine, biomechanics. I have trained abroad also but no facility has so many things together at one place. I have always performed well after training here,' he said.
The centre today has a state-of-the-art sports science centre with labs for biomechanics, sports medicine and sports psychology equipped with some of the latest testing and training machines from across the world. Out in the field, the athletics stadium boasts of a smart track with sensors that can gather and analyse data of every stride, exclusive strength and conditioning area, recovery room and modern changing rooms for hockey with more facilities planned in the near future including exclusive testing machines for para-athletes.
PV Sindhu, who came for isokinetic testing, was appreciative of the facilities. 'I have come here a couple of times and SAI has always been very helpful. My father also used to come here as a player and things have changed completely since then,' she admitted.
The biggest change, however, has been in the diet department with the centre boasting of a state-of-the-art research kitchen headed by Chef Jeyraj that works closely with nutritionists to create customised recipes and also provides athlete's meal cards to track their consumption.
(The writer was at the NSSC Bengaluru on invitation from the Sports Authority of India)
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