SAI's mega recruitment drive, invites applications for 323 assistant coaches in 26 disciplines

New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) In a bid to strengthen athlete support, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has initiated nationwide recruitment of assistant coaches across 26 disciplines for its Centres of Excellence (COE) and other training facilities with shooting, athletics, swimming and wrestling set to be among the biggest beneficiaries.

SAI has invited applications for 323 vacancies for assistant coaches, 33 per cent of them reserved for women, to be posted at its various Regional Centres, National Centres of Excellence and Training Centres spread all over India.

"The recruitment methodology is structured into a two-stage process: a Computer based online written test, called Computer Based Test (CBT) and a Coaching Ability Test (CAT)," the body stated in its latest notification.

"The final composite weightage in the recruitment methodology shall be 60 per cent for the Coaching Ability Test and 40 per cent for the Computer based online written test," it added.

"The candidates appearing in the written examination shall be shortlisted for the Coaching Ability Test (CAT) in the ratio of 1:3 i.e. the number of candidates to be shortlisted for the coaching ability test will be three times the number of vacancies in each sport and in each category." Athletics and shooting have 28 vacancies each, while in swimming 26 slots will be filled. Twenty two coaches will be on-boarded for wrestling.

In boxing, 19 assistant coaches would be hired and all major disciplines, including weightlifting, archery badminton, and table tennis would be covered during the recruitment drive.

The online tests will be held in Delhi, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Imphal.

"The number of centres can be reduced or increased, depending upon the number of candidates," SAI stated.

Open to aspirants who are at least 30 years of age, the minimum qualification for applying is a diploma or equivalent in coaching from SAI NS-NIS, Patiala or from any other recognised Indian/foreign university.

"Participation in Olympics/Paralympics/Asian Games/World Championship with Certificate Course in Coaching or being a Dronacharya Awardee would also make a person eligible to appear for the test," the SAI notification said. PTI PM PM AH AH