CHENNAI: India is going gung-ho over bidding for the 2036 Olympics and its eventual hosting. Ahmedabad is getting ready to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games that not too many cities and/or countries are willing to host. India has already shown keen interests in bidding and hosting world-class events leading up to the Commonwealth and the 2036 Games, irrespective of whether they get to host it.
However, taking a closer look at India’s flagship department under the sports ministry to promote sports excellence in the country — Sports Authority of India — seems to tell a different story. It's short staffed. Besides helping with National Sports Federations' (NSFs) annual planning and budget, the SAI is instrumental in training young talent through its various programmes aimed at the grassroots level including the Khelo India schemes.
The SAI has been opening National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs) across the country but going by the numbers revealed during Rajya Sabha question hour on Thursday, there are a number of vacancies yet to be filled for coaches, sports science experts, high performance directors and others.
Even in National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) where there has been a perennial shortage of skilled staff, the numbers are not healthy. The reply says there are only 10 persons working out of sanctioned 19. Interestingly, the NADA website only has six names on the who is who directory. Though not related, the World Anti-Doping Agency too had been critical in their anaylsis while evaluating the staff strength before suspension and while granting National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) accreditation again.
Coaching staff a concern
Though the SAI has advertised for various posts on their websites, figures as of July 23, 2025 show they need to fill up those vacancies fast. Take for instance SAI’s coaching cadre. Out of 1524, only 860 are working in various capacities, about 45 per cent less than sanctioned strength. According to the sports ministry’s reply given in Rajya Sabha to unstarred questions tabled by Members of Parliament Digvijaya Singh and Ranjeet Ranjan, there are shortages in High Performance Coaches (HPCs), chief coaches, senior coaches, coach and assistant coaches.
The total sanctioned strength for HPC is 50 but the SAI has as of July 23 has employed only 15. The issue is not about appointing. The SAI had been quite active but there seems to be a genuine dearth of HPCs overall. Even in the entire coaching system, there seems to be a lack of talent and skill. In the case of chief coaches, there are 100 posts and only 47 have been employed so far. In case of senior coaches, the numbers are scarier. Out of 200, only 71 posts have been filled. In terms of coaches, SAI seems to better off with 321 employed out of 400 posts, while assistant coaches numbers are 774 out which 406 have been appointed.
The SAI is trying their bit and, recently, to attract good coaches, the SAI has increased the pay packages substantially. Filling up of vacancies left behind by retiring coaches too need to be filled. But mushrooming of private academies supported by mega industrial houses like Reliance, JSW Sports, some of the states with academies like Odisha and Tamil Nadu, could be creating more job opportunities for coaching staff. And SAI’s new policy of employing coaches through contracts too has not gone down well.
Dearth of sports science experts
Another area of concern is the Sports Science centres of SAI which is integral in helping athletes, particularly elite ones, improve performance through scientific training. In fact, according to the Rajya Sabha reply, there is no Dean and Head of Sports Science. The reply says that sanctioned strength of Sports Science as of on July 20 2025 is 2 and there is no one, similarly, in head of sports science there is no one. Of the 23 sanctioned High Performance Directors, there are only three in SAI as of July 23. When it comes to medical officers, there are 18 out of 23 sanctioned with the department.
Overall, health of SAI also seems to be fragile in terms of staff strength. Going by the reply, it seems top-heavy. All the top posts are full but when it comes to directors, the numbers seem to decline. Among directors there are only 20 out of the sanctioned strength of 38. Deputy director level also seems inadequate but the numbers are stark in the assistant director level where only 49 is the present strength out of 130. Section officers, one of the important functionaries in a department is one where SAI is lacking. Their sanction strength is 104 but they have only nine with them at present. Overall out of 548 SAI has strength of 239 in Administrative and Rajbhasha Cadre as of July 23.