Foreign coaches will be appointed for teams: Gill

MUMBAI: Indian hockey teams are likely to get trained under foreign coaches as the sports ministry is in talks with a few coaches abroad, Union Mi
Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs MS Gill said on Tuesday.

“Foreign coaches will be appointed to train the national teams. It is still in the process and we hope things to be settled soon,” Gill said after inaugurating a synthetic athletics track in the north-western suburb of Kandivali.

“Also, our coaches are being regularly sent abroad for more advanced training,” the minister said.

The sports ministry was also planning to set up sports academic centres at the gram panchayat level, he said.

“We would come up with sports academic centers in rural India. As when we receive proposals we would act on it. With this we intend to reach to every Indian,” Gill said.

The sports ministry has allocated nearly Rs 1500-crore for the scheme titled, ‘Panchayat Yuva Krida aur Khel Abhiyan’.

The ministry has also set aside Rs 678-crore for providing campus training for sportspersons for two-and-a-half years, Rs 170-crore for infrastructure development, Rs 75-crore for about 21 hockey artificial turfs and Rs 65-crore for 17 athletics tracks, the minister said.

“With all this allocation we intend to provide a better learning platform for all sports persons across the country,” Gill said, adding that the biggest problem faced is lack of sports infrastructure and paucity of coaches in the country.

“Apart from lack of infrastructure there are not enough coaches. Instead of having 3,300 coaches we just have 1,300 coaches. We are also trying to improve the conditions of the coaches, including their fees and contract period,” Gill said.

The minister said that while cricket had now started getting money, there was not enough economic backing for other sports as required.

Courtesy: Times of India