Rajyavardhan Rathore : We Want to Strengthen the Culture of Sports in the Country

2004 Olympic silver medal winner, Rajyavardhan Rathore, launched the anthem for the ambitious ‘Khelo India’ project in New Delhi yesterday. The ‘khelo India’ project is an initiative to scout for talent at the grassroots level and provide a substantial long-term scholarship and will be launched on January 31 to February 8.

Rathore also launched the mascot of the first ever Khelo India School Games, PM Narendra Modi's dream project, which will be held in the capital.

"We are looking at a scheme where 20 percent reward money goes to the medallist's coach at the grassroots' level and 30 percent to the developmental coach. Earlier, the developmental coach at a higher level used to get all the money." Rathore said the launch of the anthem, reported Economic Times.

When quizzed about what is the aim of the project in general, Rathore replied, "We want to strengthen the culture of sports in the country where an attitudinal change can come in every Indian family, in every institution, that sports is equally important." 

A lot of doubts were raised with respect to the 5 lakh rupees funding that each athlete who is selected will receive, with many claiming that these are merely false promises. However, the Sports Minister clarified the entire process and offered a detailed explanation of how the athletes will directly benefit from the funding provided.

"We will create a database of all the 1,000 athletes and then we will monitor them on a regular basis. We have centres of excellence and more will come up. We will ask them to go and train there. Also, if they want to train on their own, we will keep a track of their performances. It's going to be performance-based. We will keep releasing funds every year. The sponsorship money will come from us and the hard work has to come from the athlete," Rathore said.

The 'Khelo India' Anthem aims to focus on brotherhood, equality and solidarity through sports. It has the added benefit and dazzle, as it features prominent personalities like Bhaichung Bhutia, Leander Paes, Sachin Tendulkar amongst others.