Bhubaneswar: Five new Khelo India Centres (KICs) will be opened in five districts of Odisha, PTI reported quoting officials on Sunday.
The new KICs will be opened in three disciplines in Ganjam, Gajapati, Jharsuguda, Nayagarh and Deogarh districts.
While Khelo India Basketball centre will be opened at Government Queen of the Mission High School in Ganjam district, Khelo India Kho-Kho centres will be opened at Government SVT High School in Gajapati and RK Government School in Jharsuguda. Khelo India Football centre will be opened at Teleibani PS High School in Deogarh and Narayana Government High School in Nayagarh.
While SAI will provide funds to run the centres, former champion athletes would be engaged as the coach or mentors in each discipline at these proposed centres in the next two months, the officials said.
The talent pool identification would be done by the respective past champion athletes or organisations adhering to the guidelines of the scheme and each centre would strive to have an equal ratio of male to female trainees, the official added.
According to the official website of Khelo India, 26 KICs in nine disciplines have been approved for 25 of 30 districts of Odisha, and six of these are currently operational.