New policy to promote sports at all levels: minister

Minister for Sports and Youth Empowerment Pramod Madhwaraj said the newly designed sports policy is drafted as the state government is committed to promote sports at all levels.

Inaugurating the state-level Khelo India swimming tournament at Mahatma Gandhi district stadium, the minister said the sports policy will be announced in the forthcoming budget. It is being formulated after study and suggestions from stakeholders and would lay a strong foundation for sports activities in the state.

Selection for Olympics

The government has decided to select and train 1,000 top athletes in the state for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The selection will be online and 662 applications are registered. The athletes are given unit codes after registration, which will be linked to their Aadhaar numbers. The government would tie up with corporates to sponsor the athletes. The training would be through the funds supported by corporate social responsibility, he added.

The chief minister has assured support to the athletes and the winners at Tokyo Olympics would be duly rewarded. The gold medalist from Karnataka would receive Rs five crore, while silver and bronze medalists would receive Rs three and two crore respectively. The state should have the pride of having at least one medal in the Olympics, said Madhwaraj.

The minister lamented the lack of support by the Centre to promote sports in the state. The Centre has only released Rs three crore as against the required amount of Rs 10 crore for state-level Khelo India competitions.