222 athletes qualify from Odisha district trials of NYCS GAIL RAFTAR Season-II

Bhubaneswar: The district trials of Odisha for NYCS GAIL RAFTAR season-ll successfully concluded with last trials being held in Angul district.

222 kids are selected from the state to compete in the Zonal Trials to be held in Bhubaneswar early next year. The event was part of the initiative taken by National Yuva Cooperative Society (NYCS) as part of nationwide campaign to find out athletes for 2020/2024 Olympics.

A total of 5115 kids from the state participated out of which 222 kids got selected from the 6 district trials held in Phulbani (19), Keonjhar (51), Cuttack (35), Ganjam (58), Sundergarh (35) and Angul (24).

NYCS GAIL Raftaar is a Pan India Athletic Talent Scouting program that spots, screens, selects and nurtures budding athletic talent from every corner of the country and prepares them to meet the nation’s dream of glory in the coming 2020 and 2024Olympic Games.

It is supported by GAIL (India) Limited and executed by the National Yuva Cooperative Society among the age group of 11-17 years in 100m, 200m, and 400m track events. National Yuva Cooperative Society has tied up with Anglian Medal Hunt Company as its Technical Partner for the project.

At the initial stage of selection process, trials at district level are conducted in 100 shortlisted districts under the guidance of coaches and selectors appointed by the committee and selection will be based on talent identification and criteria set by the committee.

The district trials will be followed by Zonal Trials and then National Trials from which top 9 athletes will be selected who will be provided with a world class coaching with an ultimate objective to prepare them to represent India at the 2020/2024 Olympics.

The National Selection Committee for this season will be headed by the legendary P.T. Usha and Sriram Singh along with other eminent members like Olympians Rachita Mistry, Anuradha Biswal, Asian and Commonwealth Games medallist Kavita Raut and V. Muralidharan.

The committee will be responsible for creating the selection criteria for the program and developing the training plan and module for the selected athletes at the National Level.

The inaugural season covered 53 districts across 10 states, where more than 26,000 kids’ participated and 9 top athletes were selected.

The selected athletes are provided with necessary kit and accessories, professional guidance on nutrition and supplements, performance evaluation and assessment at regular intervals and coaching and training at the local level by a personal coach. They also get to attend an International & 2 Domestic camps as part of their training program.