The government is implementing Special Area Games schemes through Sports Authority of India (SAI) for scouting and nurturing sports talent in rural, hilly, tribal and coastal areas of the Country. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today, the Sports Minister Jitendra Singh said that SAI is implementing various sports promotion schemes including National Sports Talent Contest, Special Area Games, and Come and Play scheme to achieve excellence at national and international level.

He said the authority has been facing shortage of coaches in different Sports disciplines for its own various training centres and a policy decision has been taken to post coaches for SAI’s own schemes only.