To improve India’s medal prospects in Olympics, the Union government has set in motion plans to develop high-quality, affordable sports shoes.
At a press conference on Thursday, Union Science Minister Harsh Vardhan said the Chennai-based Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), with its decades of experience in improving leather and developing a range of footwear, had been tasked with tackling in “mission mode” the problem of developing shoes that match “international quality standards”.
Shoes that meet required specifications would likely be ready within a year, but there is no decision yet on how much it would cost, Dr. Vardhan said.
The Minister’s plan stems from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks at a CSIR event in September that scientists needed to do more to improve India’s performance in a variety of avenues, including sports. The Prime Minister, in August, had announced setting up a task force to investigate India’s disastrous performance in the 2016 Olympics at Rio.
A top CLRI official said the institute had experience in designing shoes, sole cushions and customising them for a range of applications . “We wouldn’t probably make the shoe,” CLRI Director B. Chandrashekhartold The Hindu “but we would be able to say how such a shoe can be made, the appropriate material and how it can be customised to different sports.”
The institute plans to tap the expertise of other CSIR labs as well.
