Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur today launched the Khelo India Rising Talent Identification (KIRTI) programme from Chandigarh. Rajeev Verma, Advisor to Administrator of UT Chandigarh Banwarilal Purohit was present on this occasion.

KIRTI aligns with the vision of the Prime Minister of India, emphasizing the importance of a talent hunt in every corner of the country. Mr. Thakur said, the primary objective of KIRTI is to identify and support youth sporting talents at the grassroots level across various disciplines.

The KIRTI model will feature a pyramidical structure, identifying talented sportspersons from grassroots levels to the development of elite athletes for international excellence. Talent identification will be conducted through scientifically designed tests, ensuring accuracy and fairness in the selection process. Mr. Thakur said, furthermore, that Bharat Benchmarks will be established for performance measurement, providing a unified tool for performance assessment across various disciplines.

On this occasion, the Union Minister also announced to opening of two new National Centre of Excellence for Sports dedicated to women where only women sportspersons will be trained. Mr. Thakur said, the country already has 23 National Centre of Excellence. Mr. Thakur said that at the request of the Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry Prime Minister Narendra Modi had amended the rules to provide government jobs to the medal winners of Khelo India being organised at four levels. He said that earlier jobs were provided to the winners of International level championships.