New Delhi [India], March 26 (ANI): The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in collaboration with the Youth Services and Sports department of Himachal Pradesh is set to build India's first-ever SAI National Centre of Excellence to train athletes in Mountain Terrain Biking and Bicycle Motocross in Shimla.

The NCOE is being set up to provide world-class training facilities to Indian cyclists so that they can compete for the 18 Olympic medals in the disciplines of MTB and BMX.

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This centre, one of the best high-altitude training facilities in the world, at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level, will have world-class infrastructure, a state-of-art sports science high-performance centre, Olympic-level track and coaches of international repute, where India's best cyclists and local sporting talent can train.

Owing to the requirement of the sport for hilly terrain and a suitable climate for training, Shimla emerged as a preferred choice for the NCOE.

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"India has had its best Olympics in Tokyo and we are doing well in quite a few disciplines. The time has come to expand our orbit and train athletes for Olympics in other disciplines where Indian athletes are showing prospect and where we can bag more medals to improve the overall tally at Olympics," Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur said as per an official release.

"Cycling is one such discipline where there is a lot of potentials. This first-ever SAI NCOE set up in Shimla in collaboration with HP Government will provide world-class infrastructure and coaching to Indian cyclists preparing in the disciplines of MTB and BMX for 2028. It is a step to enhance India's sporting potential and we will see the results in the years ahead," he added.

The collaboration between the centre and the state to set up this world-class facility was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on March 23, 2022. (ANI)

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