Ministry musings: BCCI wants to adopt Olympic sports; Govt mulling approval to OCI athletes

New Delhi: The BCCI is "keen on adopting two to three Olympic disciplines" in the sports ministry's ambitious plan to have corporate-backed individual Centres of Excellence, the work for which will begin this year.

This was conveyed by the cash-rich cricket body in a meeting with sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya here on Thursday. The gathering also featured "representatives from 58 corporate houses".

"Mr Rajeev Shukla, who represented the BCCI in this meeting, said that the Board is willing to adopt two to three Olympic disciplines and would leave it on the ministry to decide what those disciplines would be," a source in the sports ministry said.

"The ministry welcomes this. Our plan is to build Olympic Centres for each sport, which would train 100 to 200 of the very best in the country keeping in mind the current and the next Olympic cycle.

"There were 58 corporates in today's meeting and all of them were keen to support this plan," the source added.

Currently, India has 23 National Centres of Excellence operated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). Of these, only three are single-sport facilities dedicated to boxing (Rohtak), swimming (Delhi) and shooting (Delhi). The two biggest NCOEs catering to multiple sports are in Patiala and Bengaluru.

Mandaviya has time and again reiterated his commitment to the idea of individual Olympic centres, saying that the inspiration for it has come after observing the functioning of training facilities in Japan, the USA, and Australia.

The BCCI has supported Olympic sports in the past by providing financial assistance to the National Sports Development Fund (Rs 50 crore back in 2008) and to the Indian Olympic Association (Rs 8.5 crore last year before Paris Olympics).

The Board had also given Rs four crore in cash prize to medal winners of the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, including one crore to gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra.

However, it would be the first time that the Board gets involved in shaping talent if the modalities work out.

A senior BCCI office-bearer did not dwell on the details of Thursday's meeting with Mandaviya, merely saying that, "things would be communicated if anything crystallises."

The OCI conundrum

India's lack of growth in sports like football and tennis has often led to a debate on whether it was a good idea to ban Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card-holders from representing the country in 2008. Only Indian passport-holders are allowed to compete for the nation.

A ministry source said a revocation of that ban is being considered to ensure that "India's sporting ecosystem can be strengthened".

The discussion is, however, at a very early stage and would involve thorough "exchange of ideas" between the stakeholders.

The deliberation has mainly revolved around football and tennis.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has been particularly keen on allowing OCIs even though there are no major names who can be considered for India even if the ban is revoked.

"It is just a preliminary discussion at this point, it would take a lot of time for anything to move on this front," the source said.

In tennis, the legendary Vijay Amritraj's son Prakash was among the prominent US passport-holders who could not play for India because of the ban on OCI card-holders.

"There is no harm in reconsidering because we would like the best of our talent to be able to represent us. But again, it's a very long road," the source said.

Federations should put house in order

The ministry's thrust on keeping judiciary out of sports governance has continued and it is learnt that Mandaviya has been busy meeting rival factions across different federations to sort their differences.

"The idea is to ensure that judges do not govern sports. That's not the solution. The federation has to be in charge and the ministry is trying its best that infighting doesn't harm athletes or cause litigation," the ministry source stated citing the recent resolution of wrestling's administrative mess that was dragging in court and preventing athletes from competing.

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