State Sports Schemes: East and Northeast India Guide

In 2022, Odisha’s state government became the official kit sponsor of the Indian national hockey team, with its name on the jersey at every international event. Manipur sends more athletes to the Olympics per capita than almost any other region in the country. These are not states on the margins of Indian sport. They are two of the most seriously invested sporting regions in India, and athletes from here have formal support structures that many better-resourced states have not matched.

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Odisha

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East and Northeast India: State Sports Provisions (Verify Before Acting)

Odisha	Manipur	West Bengal	Assam	Northeast states (SAG)
Known for	Hockey, athletics, shooting; the most invested state in sport infrastructure outside Haryana	Boxing, weightlifting, football; produces national champions at the highest per-capita rate	Football, cricket, athletics	Football, athletics, aquatics	Wushu, judo, archery, athletics, football; SAG programme covers all 8 states
Key support	Odisha government-SAI partnership centres (Bhubaneswar), athletes from all states accepted	Manipur Sports Authority; state cash awards among the highest in the northeast	West Bengal Sports Authority (WBSA)	Assam Sports Policy; Sports Hostels in Guwahati	SAI Regional Center, Guwahati; SAG funds training and competition
Contact	sports.odisha.gov.in	contact state department	sportsandyouth.wb.gov.in	saa.assam.gov.in	sportsauthorityofindia.nic.in

Odisha's Sports Policy is now considered the most comprehensive in India; the Kalinga Stadium complex in Bhubaneswar has become a hub for Asian and Commonwealth level events. Verify directly before acting on any figure.

Odisha’s sports investment accelerated sharply after it hosted the FIH Hockey World Cup in 2018 and again in 2023. The infrastructure built for those events (Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela) are now permanent training and competition facilities available to Odisha athletes year-round.

The Odisha state government provides cash awards for athletes winning at international events. Reported figures are ₹1 crore for an Olympic gold medal, ₹60 lakh for silver and ₹40 lakh for bronze (verify current amounts and eligibility at sports.odisha.gov.in, as amounts have been revised multiple times and the official portal is the only reliable source for current figures). Athletes representing India at the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships are covered under separate award structures.

Dilip Tirkey, former Indian hockey captain and Arjuna Awardee, is from Sundergarh district in Odisha. Sundergarh has produced more than its share of national hockey players over several decades, and that track record reflects what consistent state investment in hockey infrastructure produces when it is built around an existing sporting culture rather than imposed on one.

The Sports & Youth Services Department portal lists current welfare schemes, academy programs and application procedures. Contact: sports.odisha.gov.in.

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Manipur

Manipur’s sports culture is the most deeply embedded in any Indian state. Boxing, weightlifting, football, athletics, polo and wushu all have long competitive histories in the state, and the production of national and Olympic-level athletes from Manipur is disproportionate to its population.

The Sports Authority of Manipur (SAM) administers state programs including athlete support, training facilities and cash awards for performance at national and international events. Verify current programs with the Manipur Directorate of Youth Affairs and Sports directly, as no dependable official website is currently available.

The National Sports University, established by the central government in 2018 and located in Imphal, is India’s first university dedicated entirely to sports education. It is not a state scheme but a central government institution, and it is directly accessible to athletes from Manipur and across the northeast. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Sports Coaching, Physical Education and Sports Sciences: a formal academic pathway within sport that most states cannot offer locally. Contact: nsu.ac.in.

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West Bengal

West Bengal’s Department of Youth Services and Sports administers state scholarships and cash awards for athletes. The state has a strong tradition in football, chess and athletics, and program support in these disciplines is more developed than in many other sports.

Sports quota in state government employment is available for athletes performing at national level. Contact: sportsandyouth.wb.gov.in.

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Assam

The Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare, Assam administers programs including state cash awards and coaching programs at state-run facilities. Guwahati’s Sarusajai Stadium is the northeast’s largest multi-sport athletics venue and hosts regional-level trials and competitions.

Assam athletes also benefit from SAI’s northeastern regional allocation. The SAI Regional Center in Guwahati is an additional resource for athletes seeking centrally-funded coaching or STC enrollment. Contact: dsyw.assam.gov.in.

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Other northeastern states and the SAG program

Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim each have state sports departments running programs at smaller scale. For athletes in these states, two nationally available programs are particularly relevant.

SAI’s Special Area Games (SAG) initiative is a centrally-funded program specifically targeting tribal and remote regions. SAG centers provide the same residential training structure as SAI STCs (coaching, boarding, kit and medical support) and are accessible to athletes from scheduled tribal areas. Current SAG center locations and sports covered are listed at sportsauthorityofindia.nic.in.

The SAI Regional Center in Guwahati coordinates programming for the entire northeast and is the first contact point for athletes from smaller northeastern states seeking SAI-affiliated opportunities.

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