The facilities of seven states and two union territories upgraded to Khelo India State Centre of Excellence

Facilities from seven states and two union territories have been upgraded to Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE) under the Khelo India scheme, the Sports Ministry said on Saturday. The states and UTs include Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Goa, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.

"The government is taking the two-pronged approach of developing grassroot level infrastructure on the one hand and creating facilities for sporting excellence on the other," Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a release. "The KISCEs will be world-class facilities where the best sporting talent from all over the country will be trained to further India's Olympic dreams."

These centres have made the cut based on their past performances, quality of infrastructure, management and sports culture in their respective states. "The assistance to these centres will be provided in the form of bridging the gaps in sports equipment, high performance managers, coaches, sports scientists, technical support, etc," the release said. Earlier this year, the Ministry had identified a total of 14 centres to be upgraded to KISCEs. The overall number now stands at 24 KISCEs from 23 states/UTs.