Kalinga Stadium named as Khelo India State Centre of Excellence

Bhubaneswar: Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar has been named as one of the first eight Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCEs) under Sports Authority of India’s flagship talent identification and nurturing programme, Khelo India.

Kalinga Stadium will be upgraded with a total budget of Rs.12.02 crore in four years.

The support will be in the form of infrastructure upgradation, setting up of sports science centre and also soft component in the form of quality coaches and sports science human resources. 

High quality equipments will also be provided to the players.

The academy will also have high performance manager to ensure quality sports science input and performance management.

The Sports Ministry is upgrading existing sporting infrastructure in each state and UT, in partnership with the state and UT, and creating KISCEs with the aim to create a robust sporting ecosystem in the entire country.

Each KISCE will be extended sports-specific support in 14 Olympic sports, of which one state or UT will be given support for a maximum of 3 sports.

In the first leg, 8 KISCEs have been identified, including the one in Bhubaneshwar in Odisha. The other KISCEs will be set up in Mizoram, Telengana, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.

Speaking about the decision to set up the KISCEs, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju said, “These Khelo India State Centres of Excellence is yet another step towards building a robust sports ecosystem one hand and India’s pursuit of excellence in Olympics, on the other.

These state-of-the-art centres will ensure that athletes proficient in a certain sport can be given the highest level of training and these centres become the best facilities in the country to train athletes in the priority sport for which they have been earmarked. I am confident this step will help to further India’s effort of becoming one of the top 10 countries in the Olympics in 2028.”