In a special move, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is all set to hire top-of-the-line professionals - nutritionists, chefs and mess managers, to ensure personalised diet for all athletes.
The professionals will be hired at all SAI centres- Delhi, Patiala, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata, Bhopal, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Imphal, Guwahati, Mumbai, Sonepat, Aurangabad, Rohtak and Alleppey.
The SAI has already sought applications from nutritionists, assistant nutritionists, chefs, assistant chefs and mess managers and they will be required to put in place an in-house system by September 15 this year.
"Different athletes have different diet requirements and deciding on their food intake purely on the basis of whether they are senior or junior was not the right way. It had to be corrected, and we have done it. We will ensure that every athlete gets the diet that he or she needs. We will put together a thoroughly professional team for best results," Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju said in a statement on Sunday.
To hire the best professionals, remunerations for various posts have been kept at par with industry standards.
Chefs and nutritionists will be hired at a salary of up to Rs 1 lakh.
Under the new system, the diet for each athlete, irrespective of age and category, will be drawn up without any financial ceiling by the nutritionist in consultation with the coach training the athlete and on-campus sports science experts.
A series of checks have been put in place to ensure that no compromise is made regarding the food served to the athletes.
Sudden checks by the head of the institute and daily checks by the nutritionists will be part of the quality control process and there will be a weekly consultation session by nutritionists and coaches with the athletes for their feedback.
( With inputs from ANI )