With Olympics in sight, sports minister announces new pro athlete financial schemes

Union sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced upward financial revisions to boost Indian athletes' preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympics on Tuesday, 27 October.

With less than a year to go for the Olympics, Sonowal announced the revisions via Twitter after he addressed reporters in Guwahati.

Among the most significant changes made are the ones to the budget for hosting national tournaments, insurance policies for athletes and modes of travel across the country to play in various tournaments.

#2 Norms to hold National Championships revised to 5 lakhs for seniors, 7 lakhs for juniors & 10 lakhs for sub-juniors.#NSF

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) October 27, 2015

#10 Mediclaim Policy of Rs.5 lakhs and Personal Accident Policy of Rs.25 lakhs granted to athletes. #NSF

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) October 27, 2015

#5 Senior players and coaches will be allowed to travel by air (economy class) for distance beyond 500 kms. #NSF

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) October 27, 2015

#6 Junior players will be allowed to travel by air (economy class) for distance beyond 1200 kms. #NSF

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) October 27, 2015

#7 Sub-juniors will be allowed to travel AC 3-tier. #NSF

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) October 27, 2015

The salary of chief coach has also been increased, along with an introduction of evaluation of athletes' performance from a sports science perspective.

#14 With a view to incentivise good coaches the salary of Chief Coach has been revised from Rs.50,000 to Rs.1,50,000 per month. #NSF

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) October 27, 2015

#17 Evaluation of athletes' performance from Sports Science point of view has been allowed. #NSF

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) October 27, 2015

India is expected to send its biggest ever contingent to the Olympics next year. Over 100 athletes are expected to qualify for the games, with the sports ministry also mulling the prospect of sending the athletes to Rio a month prior to the beginning of the games to aid in the acclimatization process.

Fifty seven Indian athletes have qualified for the games in five disciplines so far - archery (4), athletics (12), hockey (16 men and 16 women), shooting (8) and wrestling (1).