Project Gandiva to train talented sportspersons

Tirupati: Aiming at a long-term goal of helping AP sportspersons win medals at Olympics, the State government has come out with an innovative idea of ‘Project Gandiva.’

This is a part of the government’s new sports policy for the period 2017-22, drafted with an aim to groom talented sportspersons who can compete at national and International levels and bring laurels to the nation and State in particular.

Under this, for 2018-19, a long-term athletic development programme under ‘Project Gandiva’ was started. The main motto of this project is to make AP excel in sports in a span of 10 years from now.

The project envisages that by 2021, AP should become No.1 in national athletics and by next year it should get medal in Asian and Commonwealth Games. By 2024, sportspersons from AP should compete in Olympics and by 2028 they should get medals in Olympics.

To achieve these goals, the government has identified 303 government, ZP and other welfare schools out of which 100 schools having minimum 200 metres track and other play fields to function as hub and model to the Centre of Excellence at Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur.

Besides, the government is establishing state sports academies, sports schools and sports nurseries, etc., Project Gandiva was formally launched by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu recently and to implement the concept an awareness meeting was held in Chittoor on June 20 by Joint Collector-II VR Chandra Mouli.

It was attended by CEO of SETVEN and District Sports Authority (DSA) S Lakshmi, District Educational Officer Dr K Panduranga Swamy, chief coach, DSA, B Sudarsan Naidu, physical directors and PETs in the district.

Under this project, talented children in the age group of 10 years, studying Class V will be identified through talent search from village level to State level. For this, the physical literacy teachers will address the children during the morning school Assembly session about the Project Gandiva.

They will conduct selections to identify 70 to 90 boys/girls through seven simple tests prescribed by SAAP which has to be completed by June 30. The selection team comprising SAAP coaches and members of State Athletic Association will conduct final selections in every district.

In the next stage, batches of athletes will be provided top class coaching in 100 selected schools by national and international coaches and the trained athletes will be sponsored to the Indian and International level exposures.

International reputed coaches will be positioned at centre of excellence at A N University, Guntur, and will train 100 physical education teachers of the State so that they can impart training in their respective institutions. All the children, parents, NGOs and youth clubs will be involved in identifying talented children.