Reports | BCCI proposes sports medicine research for upcoming Centre of Excellence

The BCCI has proposed a sports medicine research unit at the Centre of Excellence project in Bengaluru and is in talks with leading medical research institutes for the same. The Centre of Excellence project, estimated at about 500 crores, is running late by 6 months.

The project was initiated in the view of shifting the operations of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to the center which is planned to be spread over 40 acres of land. The BCCI is also in negotiations to create a sports medicine curriculum and upgrade the qualification of recognized practitioners in physiotherapy or those deemed as strength and conditioning trainers.

The BCCI is in talks with medical research establishments to get affiliation to improve the trainers and increase the number of referral doctors in order to reduce mismanaged cases. NCA COO Tufan Ghosh says, "I can't give you the details but we are already in talks with a leading university in Bangalore."

The revised qualification certification includes recognized certifications either from the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association (ASCA) Level 2, UK Strength and Conditioning Association (UKSCA) and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists (CSCS). These parameters have been set by Team India trainer Shankar Basu and his team at the NCA, as reported by the ToI.