On Saturday, the Ministry of Sports ended the salary cap of Rs 2 lakh on given to Indian coaches, who are training top athletes. The move came in a bid to promote and encourage them to give better results. This decision of Ministry will also attract top-notch former players to train present and upcoming athletes.
This announcement came with another major decision of the ministry. The Ministry is extending the existing contracts of every foreign coach till September 30 2021. And in future hiring of Foreign as well as Indian coaches will be for a four-year cycle syncing with the Olympics to ensure continuity.
Many Indian coaches are producing great results so they need to be rewarded for their outstanding work.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said: “The Ministry is also looking for the best training talent from across the India to coach top athletes and we do not want the cap on compensation to be a deterrent for good coaches to join.”
He further said, “ the increased salary and extended contract period is likely to attract ex-elite athletes into the high-performance sporting ecosystem, and to use their experience and skill to train athletes bound for major international competitions, including the Olympics.”
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Expert coaches who are already working in various Public Sector Undertakings would also be welcomed to join on deputation and they will be eligible for the four-year contract with an increased salary structure. The salary of the coaches will be determined on the basis of the past performance of the coach as an athlete as well as his/ success as a coach.
All the existing coaches and new coaches who are given the new contract will train athletes at National Camps and National Centre of Excellence of Sports Authority of India. The appointment of these coaches will be done jointly by the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Federation.
Many coaches are welcoming such move, Pullela Gopichand who is the chief coach of national badminton said: “This is a long-standing request of the sporting fraternity. I am very happy with the decision because it will give a great boost to the overall sporting ecosystem by attracting many talented coaches and eminent ex-athletes to join the profession.”
The Ministry of Sport will also continue to look for grass root-level talent targeting Olympics of 2028 after the situation arising out of the Coronavirus pandemic improves.
The talent scouting committee will be comprised of elite Indian coaches/ex-athletes, including those from the PSUs and leading sports promotion boards. This committee will be searching for different parts of the country to find raw talent in the age group of 10-15 years.