Tamil Nadu aims for medal haul in next Olympics: Minister
CHENNAI: With an aim to win medals at international sports events, the State government has set in motion a special scheme to groom prospective Olympians from Tamil Nadu.
By the next Olympics due in four years, the national team would have 24 sportspersons from the State, said sports and youth welfare, and school education minister K Pandiarajan, while intervening in a debate on the demand for grants to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department on Wednesday. “We are aiming to win at least 20 medals,” he added.
Explaining various measures initiated to promote prospective Olympians, the newly-inducted minister said Elite Sportspersons Scheme has been evolved to groom five talented young sportspersons. As part of this, Rs 25 lakh would be allocated for providing them coaching.
The chief minister has allocated Rs 104 crore for Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), using which infrastructure were being developed so that we could bring up medal winners, Pandiarajan said, replying to Congress member H Vasanthakumar.
Pandiarajan noted that the Tamil Nadu Sports and Physical Education University was created by the chief minister with the idea of promoting sports in the State.
Earlier, participating in the debate, Vasanthakumar, who represents Nanguneri constituency, deplored that a project to create a Sports City in Tirunelveli had failed to take shape.