Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra had to undergo surgery at a private hospital in Mumbai in 2019; London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt spent months in rehab and recovery in South Africa ahead of the games.
Because of the lack of facilities at their respective SAI training centres, athletes have more often than not taken help from private surgeons, and opted for advanced training at sports centres outside India. It is mostly possible for elite athletes or developmental ones, who are funded via SAI, TOPS or the federation.
In a bid to correct that, Sports Authority of India has embarked on a much-needed upgradation of its sports science department at its various centres. Armed with a budget of around Rs 150 crore, a hub is being created in New Delhi called the National Centre for Sports Sciences and Research (NCSSR) which should be operational in a year's time, said Dr Pralay Majumdar, head of sports science, SAI. The NCSSR will be a high-performance centre that will also double up as high-level research and educational centre.
He said that 11 National Centres of Excellence (NCOE) and two high performance centres (Bengaluru and Patiala) have been given their own sports science centres, with latest machines and qualified personnel.
"We have recruited 190 people in 30 SAI centres across the country, which includes 80 physios, masseurs, and strength and conditioning experts. Earlier, there was no structured centre in the country for scientific departments. We have tried to rectify that. We have recruited some competent persons who will make a strong system,” Majumdar said during an interaction with select media. He credited Director General of SAI Sandeep Pradhan and Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, and the previous minister Kiren Rijiju, for being receptive to the upgradation idea, and for encouragement, too.
He said there was an urgent need to upgrade sports science in India as the talent flow now was better and "teams no longer go to participate but win".
Biomechanics, too, is being developed, though it is still in nascent stage. "We have made a modest beginning. It is a high-tech department. We have bare minimum equipment like high-speed cameras, force plate etc." He admitted that, at the moment, SAI centres will not be able to match the facilities available at Padukone - Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence or even the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Center, where the equipment, he said, was excellent.
Majumdar, however, added that athletes who require advanced training or scientific inputs or recovery and rehab, will still be able to access the same from empanelled specialists or centres in India and if their sponsor is willing to do it abroad, since SAI was still in the process of upgrading its own facilities. "We have 13 centres, which are equally good but when you compare it with say some top private academies, we will need some time to reach that level. Some of them are for some specific sports. Our objective is to cater to the needs of all athletes across the country.”
On hockey teams having their own scientific advisers and protocols in place for such scenarios, he said, "There is regular meeting of our scientists with scientific advisers to teams like hockey."
