On the occasion of International Women’s Day on Friday, Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Shri Anurag Singh  Thakur announced the establishment of two National Centres of Excellence, exclusively for women.

NCOEs cover 23 focused/priority disciplines where Indian athletes have a chance to win medals in global competitions like the Asian Games and the Olympics. 

Reacting to the lack of trainers, coaches and infrastructure at the state level, Shri Thakur said in Bengaluru: “Sports is a state subject but still the Central government is keen to look at the upliftment of sports in the country. We have to spend a lot of money on infrastructure and coaches. We are collaborating with state governments and asked them to identify three key sports so that we have a roadmap and information on which state will promote hockey, boxing and athletics etc.

“I have already started consolidating our NCOEs and in association with the national sports federations, will greater emphasis on producing good coaches,” said Shri Anurag Singh Thakur.   

The Sports Authority of India established 23 National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs) across the country to impart specialized training to promising athletes by providing state of the art infrastructure and playing facilities, sports science backup, individualized diet prescribed by trained nutritionists and overall supervision under the best coaches, qualified support staff and High Performance Directors.