Female Athlete Presence in Jammu Kashmir Remains Limited at SAI Training Centres | Kashmir Life

SRINAGAR: The government has said that female representation in Sports Authority of India-supported training centres in Jammu and Kashmir remains limited, even as participation by women athletes has shown a gradual presence across select institutional setups.

In a written reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on December 18, 2025, Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya placed state-wise data on athletes enrolled in SAI Training Centres, extension centres and adopted akharas. According to the figures provided by the government, Jammu and Kashmir currently has one SAI Training Centre and one extension centre under SAI support.

The data shows that at the SAI Training Centre in Jammu and Kashmir, forty boys are enrolled, with no girls registered in the residential category. At the extension centre level, eighteen boys and twenty-eight girls are currently training, indicating that female participation in the Union Territory is concentrated primarily in extension centres rather than core residential facilities. The figures also show that seventeen boys and one girl are enrolled in non-residential categories linked to SAI-supported centres, while there are no adopted akharas operating in Jammu and Kashmir under the scheme at present.

Responding to questions on funding for women’s sports, the government has said that allocations under the Khelo India scheme are made scheme-wise and not gender-wise. It added that gender equality is ensured across various components of the programme, citing equal medal tallies for men and women at the state level during Khelo India Games. However, specific figures released by the ministry show that the Khelo India Women’s League has received Rs 39.52 crore since 2021–22, with annual releases fluctuating over the years and Rs 5.78 crore released so far in 2025–26 up to November 26, 2025.

On financial management, the government has clarified that no funds under the Khelo India scheme have been returned to the Corporate Finance Institute, rejecting any suggestion of unutilised or refunded allocations.

The minister also informed the House that details of National Centres of Excellence currently operational across states and Union Territories, including Jammu and Kashmir, have been provided in an annexure to the reply. On the issue of sports science staffing, the government has denied that recruitment has stalled in recent years, stating that several recruitment drives have been conducted over the past two years for positions such as medical officers, heads of sports science, high performance directors and deans.

The data placed before Parliament highlights that while Jammu and Kashmir has a modest institutional footprint under SAI, female participation remains uneven and largely dependent on non-residential and extension-based training structures, underscoring continuing gaps in access to high-performance sports infrastructure for women in the Union Territory.