Coimbatore: Union Sports Ministry would consider the concept of adopting young talents, if concrete proposals were sent to it, Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs, Pon Radhakrishnan said on Sunday.

When reporters suggested to him at a press conference here that centre should come forward to identify and adopt young talents to make them on par with international standards, the minister said that if any proposal came, it would be considered.

Citing the recent example set by Tamil Nadu by adopting 12 talents, Radhakrishnan said that as sports was mainly a State subject, concerned governments and big corporates could make attempts to sponsor to tap sportpersons from the school stage.

He said works for a Sub-centre of Sports Authority of India (SAI) would begin in Kanyakumari soon for which his ministry had allocated Rs 10 crore for this project.

About 50 acres of land had already been identified and training, with top coaches, would be carried out in 15 different disciplines including Hockey, boxing and water sports, he said.

When his attention was drawn to the neglect of hockey, which lacked international quality, Radhakrishnan denied it, but said the ministry was boosting other sports, considering the victory chances.

Radhakrishnan also said that two more youth hostels, at a cost of Rs 2 crore each, would come up at Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari.

PTI