Sarbananda Sonowal seeks corporate funds

Bengaluru: Among many aspects that make an athlete successful, sponsorship plays a key role.Reaching out to sponsors, especially corporates, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday urged them to loosen their purse strings and help in the development of sport in the country.

Sonowal, who was in Bengaluru to participate in a Nehru Yuvaka Kendra Sanghatan event, said, “I appeal to the corporate sector to support our medal prospects at the Olympics and Asian Games. We have seen corporates entering football, kabaddi and badminton. We appeal to them to come forward to help national athletes grow. The corporate sector can, under CSR, adopt many medal prospects that we have identified for the Olympics and Asian Games.”

Outlining the need for increased funding over the next six years, he said, “For us, 2016, 2018 and 2020 are the big years with the Olympics and Asian Games scheduled. We have identified athletes in athletics, archery, badminton, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting and shooting under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme. It will be funded by the National sports development fund but we also need corporates’ help.”

When asked about the prospect of increasing cash awards for medal winners, the 52-year-old minister said, “We rewarded the blind cricket team which won the World Cup recently. We realise many states have enhanced cash awards. We know they cannot remain stagnant. If the situation demands we will increase it. But hiking these awards is not a big thing. What is more important is that the athlete needs complete support from the system to perform. Their interests will be protected at all costs. This is our prime focus.”

With lack of accountability and transparency being the bane of Indian sport, Sonowal revealed the National Sports Development Bill will be tabled soon.“We already have appropriate guidelines in place. In a recent meeting with the Indian Olympic Association and the sports federations, I told them that we need to move together towards transparency, accountability and good governance. At all times, we have to keep the people informed about everything that we do — selection of teams, training methods, exposure tours, results etc.

The minister added that utilisation and maintenance of stadia in states will be discussed with state sports ministers from across the country in the month of February.