Focus is on identifying and grooming best pool of sports talents: Sports Minister

Bhubaneswar, Jan 3: Odisha has a rich resource of talent right from grassroots to urban. The state has over Rs 1500 crore sports infrastructure projects underway so sportspersons can be groomed to reach their highest potential. The Sports and Youth Services Department has invited registration from students in the age group of 8-18 years to enroll on the department website, in the choice of 30 sports disciplines. So far, over 2000 students and close to 900 PETs have already registered on the exclusive portal https://portal.sportsodisha.gov.in/Talent/Choose. The last date for registration is January 15. Sports Minister, Tusharkanti Behera shared, “Taking Chief Minister’s vision forward, Sports and Youth Services Department has invited registration from students in the age group of 8-18 years to enroll on the Department website, in the choice of 30 disciplines listed.  To ensure that each kid in the defined age group, post trials, is given the opportunity and platform to achive his dreams to excel in sports. For this Physical Education Teachers (PETs) have been encouraged to register and complement the Sports department’s initiative to identify and nurture the hidden sports talents of the State.” He also said that with this initiative they are aiming to reach 10,000 potential talents. “District administrations and DSOs will be playing a key role in this search and collectively we should be able to reach out to a large and wide universe of budding talents. We are also working with Department of School and Mass Education” he added.