In order to improve India’s performance on international platforms including Olympics, Union Minister of States for Sports Sarbananad Sonoval on Thursday urged industrial houses to support sporting activities financially.
Sonoval was in Gujarat on Thursday to inaugurate integrated stadium facility in Ahmedabad and later on he participated in a function of Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) as well as a programme at the western region headquarter of Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Gandhinagar.
According to the Minister Government alone wouldn’t be able to provide sports facilities to budding sports person, private sectors will also have to take active participation in overall development of the sports in the country.
“The Central Government has come up with Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme under National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) to prepare talented sportspersons to achieve best in upcoming Olympics. Already 85 such players have been indentified under the scheme and the ministry is expecting more than 10 medals in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro,” he said.
Answering a question on IPl controversy, the Minister remained non-committal about any intervention or role Government of India could play in the cleanup of cricket or cricket governing body - BCCI.
He said that people expect from the government that cricket and its overning be made more transparent and accountable. “We should obey the court order and it is high time the court order is implemented,” he added.