Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur : “Future of Indian sports is in the hands of coaches”

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports and Information & broadcasting, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, visited the Netaji Subhas Southern Centre, Sports Authority of India, Bengaluru and participated in the Teachers’ Day Celebration of the 58th Batch of NIS Diploma in sports coaching, on the 5th of September . DG, SAI, Shri Sandip Pradhan and Smt. Ritu Pathik, Regional Director, SAI, Bengaluru Centre, were also present at the event.

Reiterating the Central Government’s renewed focus on sports, which has further been reinforced by India’s spirited performance in the recently concluded Tokyo summer Olympics and para Olympics, the Union Sports Minister addressing the coaches and athletes at the event said “Future of India’s Sports lies in the hands of Coaches; On the occasion of teachers’ day, let’s resolve to nurture and polish athletes with best of training and ensure they bring forth star athletes of Olympian standards.”

There are currently over 160 athletes undergoing high performance training at the Bangalore Centre of the SAI under NCOE scheme in five disciplines; besides, 168 trainee coaches are undergoing diploma course in Sports Coaching in 9 disciplines and shall soon be passing out as young Coaches. SAI is also emphasising on the sports sciences support in the high performance training wherein a battery of young sports scientists has recently been inducted to support the training processes with modern scientific approach and latest research.

Earlier, the Minister’s visit began with the garlanding of the bust of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in the administrative block of the SAI Bangalore. The event concluded with the Minister interacting with the young athletes and motivating them to keep striving for attaining top performances at the world level.