New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI) With an aim to tap young talent, the Sports Ministry is set to establish the Khelo India Centre of Excellence (KISCE) in six more states.

The states of Assam, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Sikkim have been identified as the beneficiaries in the second leg.

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Earlier this year, the ministry had identified eight centres including Karnataka, Odisha, Kerala, Telengana and the north east states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland in the first leg. Their existing centres will be upgraded into Khelo India State Centre of Excellence (KISCE).

"These centres have been shortlisted based on the training facilities available in priority sports, infrastructure facilities and champions produced by the centre.

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"The sports facilities were selected by each State and Union Territory, who was asked to identify the best sports infrastructure available with them or their agencies or any eligible agencies that could be developed into world-class sporting facilities," the ministry said in a statement.

The release further stated that the ministry will also bridge the gap in requirement of sports equipment, expert coaches and high performance managers.

"The support extended will be to a maximum of 3 Olympic sports per center, though support can be extended in sports science and allied fields in other sporting disciplines being run in the centre," it said.

The centres identified in the second leg are Assam's State Sports Academy, Sarjusajai Sports Complex, Guwahati; New Sports Complex, Silvassa (Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu); Sree Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune (Maharasthra); MP Academy, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh); JNS Complex Shillong (Meghalaya) and Paljor Stadium, Gangtok (Sikkim).

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