New Delhi, Jul 18 (IANS): With the Paris Olympics loading up, the government’s ambitious Khelo India Rising Talent Identification (KIRTI) programme will shift an extra gear as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) Mansukh Mandaviya, will inaugurate phase 2 of the initiative in New Delhi on Friday.

The first phase of KIRTI was launched by the previous sports minister Anurag Thakur in Chandigarh on March 12 this year.

"KIRTI aims to conduct 20 lakh assessments across the country throughout the year to identify talent through notified Talent Assessment Centres. A scouting and assessment programme of this scale is a first in India and comes at a time when the nation wants to become a top 10 sports nation in the world by 2036 and among the top five by 2047, as per ministry's release.

KIRTI’s athlete-centric programme is conspicuous by its transparent selection methodology based on Information Technology. Data analytics based on Artificial Intelligence are being used to predict the sporting acumen of an aspiring athlete.

In its first phase, out of 3,62,683 registrations across 70 centres, close to 51,000 assessments in 28 states and Union Territories have been made. Maharashtra and Haryana, two states which have always done well in Khelo India meets, have had the maximum number of assessments – 9168 and 4820 -- respectively. Assam was third with 4703 assessments.

Evaluation of aspiring athletes has happened in 11 disciplines – Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Football, Hockey, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Volleyball, Weightlifting and Wrestling. Maximum assessments have happened in athletics (13804) and football (13483).

The sports minister will lay emphasis on the project that aims to achieve 20 Lakh assessment in the FY 2024-25 by onboarding all states and treating the district as a unit of assessment.