Sports Ministry To Leverage Strength Of The Armed Forces To Improve Indian Sporting Ecosystem: Kiren Rijiju

The Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju said that the sporting tradition of the armed forces will be used to improve the overall sports culture of the country, reports Times of India.

The minister was on a visit to the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune and the Sports Authority of India's regional center in Mumbai on Sunday (7 July).

Expressing delight over the way in which the Indian Army had been managing the premier sports institution ASI, Minister underscored that the ministry would leverage the strength of the armed forces and the paramilitary forces to strengthen the sporting ecosystem of India.

After taking charge of the ministry in the end of May, Rijiju had visited NIS Patiala, Indira Gandhi Stadium and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, before his visit to the ASI Pune and SAI Mumbai.

In each of the facilities, Rijiju is said to have interacted with athletes and coaches to get their inputs to bolster the country's sporting ecosystem.

Speaking about his visits to India's esteemed sporting facilities, Rijiju said, "India has a big talent pool but we can do much better at the International competitions than we are currently doing. So, I am taking a look at the premier facilities we have in place at the moment to gauge what we need to do to ensure that those are developed into world standard - not just in terms of infrastructure, but other facilities available to players and coaches, sports science facilities, training and equipment, nutrition."