BHUBANESWAR: As Odisha basks in the historic achievement of the national hockey teams in Tokyo Olympics, more recognition continued to flow in from the highest levels with a Parliamentary panel calling upon states to follow its model for sports development.
Highlighting the Odisha model, the Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports recommended that every state should be encouraged to focus on one sport specific to that region, besides taking up other sports in general, and setting up high performance centres for its development as well as getting corporate sponsorship for support and promotion.
The panel headed by Rajya Sabha MP Vinay P Sahasrabuddhe presented the 327th report on action taken by the government on the recommendations of the committee on the subject, 'Preparations for Olympic Games, 2021' in both the houses on Thursday.
The committee lauded the initiative and efforts taken by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in setting up the high performance sports centres and sponsoring both men’s and women's hockey teams since 2018, which translated into better performances by both the teams at Tokyo Olympics. It praised the Chief Minister for transforming the performance of men’s and women’s hockey teams of the country.
The panel stated that focused strategies to rope in public and private sectors are needed as has been done in Odisha, where the State government and corporate sector have come together to fund 10 high performance centres in hockey, badminton and shooting.
Parl panel bats for Odisha model of sports development
Stating that sponsorship in sports has the potential of providing much-needed support for infrastructure development and better performance by sportspersons, the Committee said, in its 311th report it had recommended that public private partnership mode for creating sports infrastructure in the country should be adopted.
Besides, the states should also identify and promote raw talent from a tender age and provide them with the much-needed support of international standards in terms of equipment, sports kit, coaching (team and individual), exposure and mental conditioning in order to nurture them for participation and podium finish at the international level.
The committee maintained that sportspersons who bring laurels for the country need to be honoured and government should make concerted efforts for ensuring sustainable employment opportunities for all meritorious sportspersons.
It also recommended that there should be an assured three per cent sports quota reservation in government jobs for all medal winning athletes and for the period of employment they should grant financial aid to them.