The National Sports Federations (NSFs) expressed their satisfaction with the sports budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.

The NSFs, which got a raw deal in the last budget, saw their allocation for 2021-22 being hiked by Rs 35 crore to Rs 280 crore. This being the Olympic year — the 2020 Tokyo Games was postponed by a year owing to the pandemic — it’s good news for the athletes preparing for the Olympics.

“It’s a very sensible budget I would say. Given the destruction done by Covid-19, we had thought the government might go for a 20 per cent cut in the overall sports budget. But the government has done a wonderful job. It’s the Olympic year, and the finance minister has rightly allocated more funds for NSFs and the Sports Authority of India,” Adille Sumariwalla, the Athletics Federation of India president, told The Telegraph on Monday.

“Olympics will be in six months’ time. There will be exposure tours, training and tournaments. Allocation of more funds to NSFs and SAI will be a huge boost for the athletes,” he added.

The Sports Authority of India, whose allocation was reduced to Rs 500 crore in the last budget, got a substantial hike this time with the government proposing an increase of Rs 160.41 crore, taking the total to Rs 660.41 crore.

SAI is the nodal organisation for managing national camps, providing infrastructure, equipment and other logistics to the country’s sportspersons.
“It’s good news. More funding means we can get more exposure trips. It’s not just about Olympic-bound athletes but also for players who aim to reach greater heights,” star table tennis player Sharath Kamal said.

The government has allocated Rs 2596.14 crore for sports for the next fiscal — a reduction of Rs 230.78 crore when compared to the amount earmarked initially for the previous year.

In the last financial year, Rs 2826.92 crore was allocated for sports, which was later revised to Rs 1800.15 crore because of the lack of active sports during the pandemic. So this year’s allocated amount is in effect Rs 795.99 crore more than the revised budget of 2020-21.

However, the spending last year was severely impacted after the Tokyo Olympics was postponed, domestic events were cancelled in almost all sports and no foreign training and competition was possible for most of the Indian athletes.

“Initially, sports was allocated Rs 2826.92 crore in last year’s budget, which was later revised to Rs 1800.15 crore after all sporting events across the world came to a halt because of the pandemic,” said a sports ministry official, hinting why comparison should not be made with the revised budget of last year.
The government’s flagship Khelo India programme was handed the biggest reduction — of Rs 232.71 crore — among all sports heads in the budget.
The financial allocation towards Khelo India this financial year is Rs. 657.71 core.

Interestingly, last year, the original Olympic year, the government had earmarked Rs 890.42 crore.
“Khelo India is a long-term project. It can once again get more money in the next budget. If you ask me, it has been sensibly worked out,” another NSF official, who did not wish to be named, said.

With inputs from PTI