Sports Ministry sanctions Rs 7.87 crore as allowance for Khelo India athletes

New Delhi: Union Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry on Saturday sanctioned Rs 7.87 crore as an out-of-pocket allowance for 2625 Khelo India (KI) athletes.

These athletes are training in 99 Khelo India Academies and other academies across the country. These athletes were selected to train in various sporting disciplines under the Government's Khelo India Talent Development Scheme, which is a grassroots level talent identification and nurturing endeavour of the government.

The sanction is for the period of October to December and is paid to each athlete as a sum of Rs 10,000 a month.

Of the total number of 2625 athletes, 1312 are training in Khelo India Academies and apart from the out-of-pocket allowance, the identified sports talent under the Khelo India Talent Development Scheme is given full support in terms of coaching, sports science, injury prevention, diet, lodging, and education.

Each athlete in a KI academy is given an annual scholarship of Rs 5 lakh, of which Rs 1.20 lakh is directly transferred to the athlete's bank account as out-of-pocket allowance.

The Khelo India Scheme acts as a feeder to other elite schemes of the government, including the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).

Athletes like weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga, shooter Saurabh Chaudhary, swimmer Srihari Nataraj are all Khelo India findings who have later been inducted into the core group or developmental group of TOPS.