SAI steps up efforts to set up sports medicine centre

Stepping up its efforts to set up the National Institute of Sports Coaching and National Institute of Sports Science and Medicine, SAI`s Director General has left for a study tour to Britain.

New Delhi: Stepping up its efforts to set up the National Institute of Sports Coaching and National Institute of Sports Science and Medicine, SAI`s Director General along with two consultants on Monday left for a study tour to Britain, where they will be visiting leading universities.

SAI DG, Jiji Thomson and consultants from Ernst and Young, one of the world`s leading professional services organisations, will be visiting varsities in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Leicestershire during their five-day tour. The study tour involves visiting the coaching institutes and Science and Medicine centres in the universities and meeting the concerned officials to better understand the challenges and opportunities that involves in setting up these institutions. Majority of varsities in Britain have Centre for Sports Medicine and this could be cited as one of the major reasons their athletes are doing well at international events. Finance Minister P Chidambaram had, in his budget presented in the Lok Sabha this year, proposed to set up the National Institute of Sports Coaching in Patiala at a cost of Rs 250 crore over a period of three years. Former Sports Minister Ajay Maken, too, had in 2011, announced the establishment of National Institute of Sports Science and Medicine, at a cost of Rs 200 crore. NISSM will be established at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium with an aim to include disciplines like Physiology, Psychology, Nutrition, Biochemistry, Biomedical, Anthropometry and Sports Medicine, and the purpose would be to provide cutting edge excellence to Indian Sports and athletes. The institute, which will function under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, will come up at an area of 2,50,000 to 4,00,000 sq ft. It will also develop accreditation and certification benchmarks for physical trainers, conditioning experts, masseurs, nutritionists, physiotherapists, sports psychologists and sports analysts, besides providing certification and testing services of food supplements and nutraceuticals to further support anti-doping measures. The institute would be headed by a director, equivalent to a vice-chancellor of a Central University. The NISSM will work in close partnership with national and international partners from UK, USA, China, Australia, Germany, Korea and South Africa. PTI