Goel to conduct post-mortem of India's Rio performance

Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Thursday sought feedback from the athletes, who participated in the recently-concluded Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, to review and work on improving India's performance in upcoming competitions.

Goel also wrote to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the various National Sports Federations (NSF), to conduct a review of Indian athletes' performances in Rio and sought their suggestions.

"The Minister has written individual letters to each of the athletes who participated in the Rio Olympics 2016, seeking their feedback and suggestions. He has stated that they should feel free to give him their suggestions or feedback anytime either personally or through mail," the Sports Ministry said in a statement.

"In his letter, the Minister has stressed the need for more inputs from performers like them so that the pool of world class athletes can be enhanced and sports infrastructure strengthened.

"The Ministry has also written to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to submit their feed-back on India's performance in Rio Olympics and steps for improving the performance in future. Such feedback will also be sought from the National Sports Federations (NSFs)."

"Vijay Goel will have detailed meetings with the IOA and the NSFs shortly in this regard. The objective of this exercise is to analyse India's performance in Rio Olympics and bring about necessary improvements in future," the statement read.

The ministry will also probe into the roles of various individuals, who accompanied the athletes to the South American country during the August 5 to 21 Games.

"The Ministry will also take a look at the duties and responsibilities of various members of the Indian contingent for the Rio Olympics with the purpose of making a fair assessment of their role and taking steps for future improvement," it said.

The Minister will also visit the Gopi Chand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad later this month, which produced champions like Rio silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal.

Besides that, Goel will also visit the various Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres in the country to take stock of the preparations of the athletes for the future tournaments.

--IANS

tri/dg