Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has formulated the selection criteria for sportspersons/teams for participation in international sports events. It has been decided that for participation in multi-disciplinary sports events such as Olympic Games, Winter Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Indoor Games, Asian Beach Games, Youth Olympics, Asian Youth Games, Commonwealth Youth Games, Paralympics and Para-Asian Games, the performance of the sportspersons in the individual events during the last twelve months prior to commencement of the event should not be less than the performance achieved by the 6th position holder of the previous edition of the respective tournament in measurable sports.
For team events, only those teams which have achieved ranking upto 8th among participating countries of the concerned tournaments in the last one year should be considered for participation in the respective tournaments.
In non-measurable individual sports, the sportspersons must have achieved 6th rank in the last 12 months. In the sports events, where rankings are not maintained or where sportspersons have not been able to improve their ranking on account of reasons like lack of exposure in international tournaments, appropriate criteria may be adopted by the National Sports Federation (NSF) in consultation with this Ministry. In the sports competitions, where the number of participants is limited, stricter norms of selection will be prescribed.
In a letter sent to Indian Olympic Association, Paralympic Committee of India and National Sports Federations, the Ministry said, on the issue of participation of sportspersons at no cost to government, only the sportspersons, coaches and support staff approved by the Ministry and Sports Authority of India (SAI) will be part of the contingent for the events cleared at cost to the government and no additional sportspersons, coach and support staff will be included even at no cost to government in such sports competitions.
The selection criteria will be applicable for multi disciplinary international sports events irrespective of whether the participation of Indian contingent has been cleared at cost to the Government or at no cost to the Government.
The letter said, IOA is also requested to formulate guidelines for inclusion of support personnel such as coaches, physiotherapists, doctors, masseurs, managers and contingent officials. IOA and SAI should ensure that only those support personnel are considered for Indian contingents who have worked with the sportspersons in camps or have the necessary credentials and experience and are eligible as per the rules and guidelines of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)/Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)/Organizing Committees of the Games/respective International Federations.