New policy to identify, develop sport as a skill, says CM Kejriwal

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said that the governments need to provide “24-carat facilities” to sportspersons for medals. “The Kejriwal government supports players with ₹2.5 lakh to ₹16 lakh under various schemes. We have started the Delhi Sports University,” he said.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the Delhi government’s sports policy is aimed at identifying individual talents and developing sports as a skill.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

“The sports policy that we have drafted in Delhi is a cohesive and constructive approach towards the development of sports as a skill in the state. We studied the sports policies of every single state in India and churned out whatever good we could out of them into our policy. This policy has three cornerstones. First, to develop a culture of sports in Delhi by motivating the general public and their children to play as much as they want. Second, to identify the potential of sportspersons at the nascent stages and support them financially and otherwise. And third, to incentivise those who have proved their mettle at the international stage,” said Kejriwal, speaking at an event to felicitate sportspersons from Delhi who represented India at the Tokyo Olympics.

The CM distributed monetary awards to bronze medallist Bajrang Punia, and Olympians Manika Batra, Deepak Kumar and coach Shallaz Kumar.

While Punia was awarded with a cheque of ₹1 crore, Batra, Deepak Kumar and coach Shallaz Kumar were awarded ₹10 lakh each. CM also gave Paralympian bronze medallist Sharad Kumar his letter of appointment as an assistant director in the education department at the event.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said that the governments need to provide “24-carat facilities” to sportspersons for medals. “The Kejriwal government supports players with ₹2.5 lakh to ₹16 lakh under various schemes. We have started the Delhi Sports University,” he said.