SAI's revamped admission policy for NIS courses draws good response, several Olympians apply

Boxer Manoj Kumar and rower Bajrang Lal Takhar are among eminent sportsperson who have applied for Sports Authority of India's (SAI) coaching diploma courses at the NIS Patiala.

The SAI received applications for the academic year 2020-21 after it revamped its admission policy, which drew attention from Olympians, including Bajrang (2008 Beijing), Manoj (2012 London), 2016 Rio Games participants Kunhu Muhammed (athletics) and Poonam Rani (hockey).

The revamped policy exempts eminent sportspersons from taking the online test.

"For the first time ever, 46 eminent athletes (1 male, 1 female coach in each discipline) across 23 sports, would get direct admission to the flagship Diploma Course, as announced in May by the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju," the SAI said in a statement.

"The criteria of winning a gold medal in the Asian or Commonwealth Games also has been replaced by winning a medal -- gold, silver or bronze -- in either of the events. Elite athletes who have participated in Olympics are automatically qualified to apply for the course."

Besides, the SAI has collaborated with the National Testing Agency (NTA) in order to conduct the first-ever online entrance exam (for academic session 2020-21) at 17 NTA centres to be held on September 12 across the country.

The SAI also increased the number of seats from 566 to 725 in the redrawn admission process, which has been approved by the National Institute of Sports' (NIS) academic council.