New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday said he is planning corporate funding-backed Centres of Excellence for every discipline in the next decade to ensure a drastic improvement in India’s Olympic performance and bolster the country’s bid to host the 2036 Games.

Mandaviya made the announcement at the launch of government’s flagship Digilocker initiative to ease the process of record-keeping for athletes through digitisation of certificates.

“In every sport, my aim is to build an Olympic Centre or a Centre of Excellence in the next 10 years. There is no lack of talent in the country,” Mandaviya said.

Currently, India has 23 National Centres of Excellence operated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

Of these, only three are single-sport facilities dedicated to boxing (Rohtak), swimming (Delhi) and shooting (Delhi). The two biggest NCOEs catering to multiple sports are in Patiala and Bengaluru.

“I have tried to understand the models of Japan, Australia, the USA and even Europe. I have tried to learn from how countries smaller than us are able to achieve more than us in the Olympics.

“One corporate will be involved in funding one Olympic Centre and it would provide, the best coaching and plan the best exposure for top-tier athletes,” he promised.

The minister said that the entire plan will be executed in coordination with the national federations.

“It will be a joint effort. One corporate per federation. They will hand-hold you. NSFs and Ministry have to coordinate, consult and work together,” he said.

Mandaviya said a comprehensive sports development plan is also in the works.

“There is no reason to be a laggard in the Olympics. In the past, we have known our weaknesses but didn’t rectify them,” he said without elaborating.

India’s Olympic performance has never done justice to the sheer size of the country of over a billion.

The best so far has been the seven-medal haul in the Tokyo Olympics, including a first ever gold in athletics.

In the Paris Games last year, the country failed to strike gold and managed six medals overall with half a dozen athletes finishing fourth in their respective disciplines. PTI PM MRM PM MRM MRM