Armadndo Colaco.
MARGAO
Dronacharya Awardee Goan football coach Armando Colaco has been appointed to Sports Ministry's advisory committee to be headed by Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The 17-member Sports Experts Advisory Committee includes celebrated boxer Mary Kom, tennis legend Leander Paes and trailblazer shuttler Saina Nehwal, who all have won Olympic medals, as members. It will advise on identification and grooming of talent, ensure fair and transparent selection and monitor the performance of athletes competing at international events as well evaluate the coaches.
Union Minister of State for Sports Raksha Khadse will be the vice chairperson and sports secretary/joint secretary will be the convenor.
The other members of the committee are Shiny Abraham (athletics), Heena Sidhu (shooting), Maj Gen VK Bhatt (rowing), Zafar Iqbal (hockey), PK Garg (sailing), Ashok Kumar (wrestling), Bhanu Sachdeva (swimming), Parul Dansukhbhai Parmer (para badminton), CEO TOPS and Executive Director of Teams Division at the SAI.
The committee's objectives include talent identification and advising for development of sub-junior and junior level athletes for training, oversee selection of national athletes/teams to ensure fair and transparent selection, observe the coaching facilities during national camps, observe and provide analysis on performance of India/foreign coaches attached to the national teams and progress of the performance of the national campers.
In furtherance of the objectives of the expert advisory committee, a sports expert panel made up solely of expert sportspersons/coaches/officials has also been formed for the monitoring/supervisory activities.
The Sports Expert Panel also has 17 members -- Dola Banerjee (archery), Bhairavi Naik (cycling), Mohan Ukkrapandian (volleyball), Alka Tomar (wrestling), Shiv Singh (boxing), Ashwini Nachappa (athletics), Rani Rampal (hockey), Deepak Hooda (kabaddi), Vijender Singh (boxing), R Rajan (basketball), Saurav Ghoshal (squash), Cawas Billimoria (judo), Hansa Sharma (weightlifting), Devender Kumar Rathore (gymnastics), Debasish Biswas (mountain climbing), Rahul Choksi (mallakhamb) and Rachna Sharma (athletics).
