The State government’s ambitious ‘Project Gandiva’, a sports programme to search for talent from grass-roots level, is all set to kick-start with the arrival of five international coaches from Jamaica, South Africa and Germany, said Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh’s Managing Director N. Bangara Raju here on Tuesday.
Speaking to The Hindu, he said these five renowned coaches, who have produced several international medallists, will stay here for the next five years and along with 30 seasoned senior athletes from the State. He said that they would interact with the 100-odd Physical Literacy Teachers (PLT) and 100-odd coaches appointed by SAAP to initiate the first phase of the project.
“This grandiose project will be held in two phases in which 3,000 promising athletes, both boys and girls, will be shortlisted for admission into 100 select government sports schools.”
He said school education department, sports associations, sports managements agencies and physical literacy teachers are the stakeholders and the strategy was to lay a strong foundation for athletics development through ‘hub-and-spoke’ model. “Athletics is the mother sport and proper knowledge and expertise will help youngsters to branch out in his or her chosen sport with ease. This project is aimed to achieve the purpose,” he added.
Yearly review
Mr Raju said 12 to 16 was the age group of youngsters for the scheme.
He said every February, a review will be take place to assess the interest and commitment among the trainees. “The uninterested ones will be asked to take up academics and new blood will be infused based on data.”
He said the project will witness usage of several information technology tools to gather data, analyse performance and selection process.
He said the five foreign coaches will also train the State coaches towards getting the coveted certificate issued by International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
