New Delhi, May 28 (H.S.): In a major step towards making India’s sports administration more effective, transparent, and technologically advanced, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Sports Authority of India have initiated a new plan under the National Sports Digital Ecosystem.

Under this initiative, the ministry is planning to appoint dedicated Information Technology consultants in National Sports Federations.

The objective of the initiative is to strengthen the digital functioning of sports federations, improve the planning of competitions and national coaching camps, and streamline athlete participation and administrative processes. The move is being undertaken keeping in view India’s preparations for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and its future Olympic ambitions.

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya said that this is the first such effort aimed at further strengthening the sports ecosystem through technology.

He said, “This initiative will make competitions, national coaching camps, athlete participation, administrative procedures, and rapid coordination more effective. India is developing a strong sports ecosystem keeping in mind the Commonwealth Games and future Olympic preparations.”

Over the past few years, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Sports Authority of India have developed several digital platforms in collaboration with National Sports Federations. These include the annual renewal portal, training and competition annual calendar system, sports management system, women in sports portal, national sports repository system, and the upcoming digital certification system.

Through these systems, transparency, athlete monitoring, financial tracking, and administrative accountability have improved significantly.

With the growing use of various digital processes — including annual recognition, competition calendar management, registration of athletes and coaches, nominations for sporting events, uploading of results, financial documentation, and digital certificates — the need for dedicated digital support at the federation level has now been strongly felt.

The proposed IT consultants will assist federations in operating and coordinating digital systems. They will support activities such as preparing competition calendars, athlete and official nominations, annual renewals, uploading competition results, verification of athlete records, record management, and digital coordination with the ministry and the Sports Authority of India.

The government believes that this initiative will improve efficiency in managing competitions and national camps. Athlete data, schedules, nominations, and approval processes will become faster and more streamlined. At the same time, federations will be able to focus more effectively on athlete development and sporting excellence. This system represents the next phase of digitisation in India’s sports administration and aims to create an integrated, athlete-centric, and technology-enabled sports framework.

As India intensifies preparations for the 2030 Commonwealth Games with the goal of achieving a record medal haul on home soil, strengthening the digital administrative framework is expected to play a crucial role in athlete management, performance monitoring, and institutional coordination.

Through the combined framework of the National Sports Digital Ecosystem, National Sports Repository System, federation support systems, and IT consultants, the government aims to develop a transparent, seamless, and technology-driven sports administration aligned with the vision of a developed India.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar