Mandaviya to inaugurate phase 2 of talent identification programme on Friday

 Making use of the buzz around the upcoming Paris Olympics, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will inaugurate the second phase of the the government’s ambitious Khelo India Rising Talent Identification (KIRTI) programme here on Friday.

The first phase of KIRTI was launched by Mandaviya’s predecessor in the post, Anurag Thakur, in Chandigarh on March 12.

KIRTI aims to conduct 20 lakh assessments across the country throughout the year to identify promising athletes through notified Talent Assessment Centres.

A scouting and assessment programme of this scale is a first in India.

KIRTI’s athlete-centric programme is conspicuous by its transparent selection methodology based on Information Technology, it was stated in a press release.

Data analytics based on Artificial Intelligence are being used to predict the sporting acumen of an aspiring athlete, the release said.

In its first phase, out of 3,62,683 registrations across 70 centres, close to 51,000 assessments in 28 states and union territories have been made.

Maharashtra and Haryana, two states which have always done well in Khelo India meets, have had the maximum number of assessments – 9168 and 4820 — respectively. Assam was third with 4703 assessments.

Evaluation of aspiring athletes has happened in 11 disciplines – archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, football, hockey, kabaddi, kho-kho, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling. Maximum assessments have happened in athletics (13804) and football (13483).

Mandaviya will lay emphasis on the project that aims to achieve 20 lakh assessment in the financial year 2024-25 by “onboarding all states and treating the district as a unit of assessment”.

The press release said this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision to take sports to every child in the country through mass participation and ultimately achieve excellence through Khelo India’s structured pyramidal programmes”.