Gandhinagar: Even as Gujarat has begun creating world-class sports infrastructure to boost India’s bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games, the state govt has proposed forming an Olympics Excellence Task Force (OETF) to professionally identify and nurture raw talent who can secure medals in diverse sporting disciplines.
The move supports Gujarat’s aspiration to have a sizable representation in India’s contingent at future Olympics and international sporting events, sources in the govt said.
A key source disclosed, “The state govt has initiated formation of OETF. This task force will function independently from the department of sports but will remain under govt’s supervision on utilisation of public funds.”
Sources said that the proposed body will comprise a CEO, a high-performance technical director, core team of athlete managers, performance analysts and finance and administrative associates.
“The CEO will bring extensive exposure to Indian and world sports as well as governmental functioning. High-performance sports specialists with comprehensive experience in different sports will be recruited from various parts of the world. Athlete managers and other experts will be selected based on their experience,” the source said.
Govt will allocate special grants to the taskforce in the upcoming budget, and enjoy autonomy to undertake targeted initiatives to establish professional international-level sports culture in the state, they said.
“The OETF will devise short- and long-term strategies to create a robust ecosystem for the identification and development of world-class athletes from Gujarat who can secure international and Olympic medals,” said a source close to the development.
“A group of 15-20 athletes in focus sports disciplines for the 2028 Olympics will be identified within the next few weeks based on their performance so far. Subsequently, selection and development for 2032 and 2036 Olympics will also be initiated as a long-term strategy,” the source said.
The govt aims to elevate Gujarat’s performance in various disciplines to match Haryana, Punjab and other states, sources said.