Bengaluru : With an aim to provide better platform and coaching facilities for athletes, the state government is planning to have a state-owned sports authority — Sports Authority of Karnataka— akin to the Sports Authority of India.
The Sports Authority of India, which is now known as Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, offers academic courses in various disciplines including MSc (Sports Coaching), Post Graduate Diploma in Sports Medicine, Certificate Courses in Sports Coaching, Diploma in Sports Coaching, Skill Development Courses and more.
Sources from the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, said the purpose of having a state-owned sports authority is to produce better athletes and coaches.
“They are also aiming to get some medals from Karnataka players in the next Olympics and Paralympics,” sources said.
Speaking to Express, Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports, said, the proposal is still in the initial stage.
“We want to have our own sports authority. This will either be in Bengaluru or Kalaburagi. We are planning to visit the Sports Authority of India, located at Patiala in Punjab,” he said.
Anupam Agrawal, Director, Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, said a team from Karnataka will visit Patiala after Dasara.
“At present, the officials are busy with Dasara sports, which is the biggest event for us. We are likely to visit Patiala in the third week of October,” he added.
Agrawal said, “The Sports Authority of Karnataka will be setup in a similar way to Sports Authority of India or will adopt with some changes to suit our criteria. The Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports officials, during their recent meeting, discussed on getting world class sports institute to Karnataka.
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.