The Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Procam International along with Amateur Athletics Federation of India (AAFI) and Madhya Pradesh Athletics Association (MPAA) announced the Elite Distance Running Programme (EDRP) in Bhopal.
Director General of SAI Jiji Thomson, Rajinder Singh, Regional Director, Sports Authority of India, Vivek Singh, Joint Managing Director, Procam International and Hugo Van Den Broek Head Coach from Global Sports Communication (GSC) jointly addressed a Press conference.
They said the SAI was setting up three academies for promotion of athletics. The Academy for Sprint and Jumps has already been inaugurated in Trivandrum on Sept 22, 2014.
The academy for throws in Rohtak is inaugurated in due course. The Academy for Middle and long Distance is in Bhopal and likely to be inaugurated on Dec 23, 2014.
The other proposed SAI national academies will also be set-up in the disciplines is Archery, Boxing, Football, Golf, Hockey, Shooting, Volleyball and Wrestling.
As part of the programme, the process of identification and selection of raw talent got underway in August this year. Over 1000 young men and women in the age group of 16 to 23 years from across India participated in trials conducted by SAI across seven centres. The athletes were put through their paces in the distances of 3, 5 and 10 km.
At the end of this special purpose camp, 10 to 12 men and women will be selected for training at a high altitude camp within India.
The five to six selected athletes comprising the EDRP elite team will travel to Africa with Global Sports Communication (GSC), an organisation that represents around 120 expert athletes from 20 different countries, and train for distance running events.
They will be supported for a period of 2 to 3 years, subject to them achieving and maintaining acceptable levels of performance and results, as determined by Global Sports Communication.