Former India hockey player VR Raghunath, swimming coach Nihar Ameen and ace shuttler Anup Sridhar have been drafted into a high-level committee of the Karnataka government to identify 75 promising athletes from Karnataka for the Paris Olympics 2024.
A government order has been issued approving Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's 'Amrith Sports Adoption' programme, which he announced in his Independence Day speech.
Each of the 75 sportspersons selected will receive Rs 5 lakh from the government for training, supplements, sports kit and so on.
Sridhar and Raghunath are Arjuna awardees while Ameen is a Dronacharya award winner. They are on an 8-member committee the government has constituted to select 75 sportspersons who have the potential to win medals for India. The committee is headed by Youth Empowerment & Sports Minister KC Narayana Gowda along with senior officials and the head of the Karnataka Olympic Association.
The three veterans will also be on the Talent Identification Development Committee (TIDC) that the government will constitute for every sport that is identified under the programme.
"Talent identification will be done scientifically. There will be training camps and tournaments to identify sports potential," Gowda said in a statement. "We want India to finish in the top ten at the Paris Olympics 2024. Further, we want sportspersons from Karnataka to be the highest medal winners," Gowda said.
Last month, Gowda had said the government planned to train 100 sportspersons from Karnataka for the Paris games. This was revised to 75 in line with Bommai's 'Amrith' scheme.
(Published 20 August 2021, 15:47 IST)
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