Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Aadhav Arjuna was speaking at the International Olympic Day event at the Nehru Indoor Stadium. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

For athletes caught in the middle of disputes between sports administrators, the wait is often longer than a season. Trials are delayed, certificates do not arrive, teams remain uncertain and court cases move at their own pace.

Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Aadhav Arjuna said on Tuesday that the state government is preparing legislation to ensure that such disputes do not leave athletes stranded indefinitely.

Speaking at an International Olympic Day event at the Nehru Indoor Stadium, where the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) signed a memorandum of understanding with JSW’s Inspire Institute of Sport, Aadhav said SDAT would be empowered to step in if disputes within state sports associations continue for more than six months.

“There are almost 13 sports associations in the state that are inactive, fighting among themselves or have cases pending in court,” Aadhav said. “Very soon, there will be a law passed in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. If fights within associations continue for more than six months, SDAT will take over. Players should play freely. Until the court case is resolved, SDAT will run the body, conduct the matches that have to happen and take care of the players’ kits and travel.”

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The proposed intervention, Aadhav said, was not meant to replace sports associations permanently but to protect athletes from administrative paralysis. He said SDAT would first engage with the concerned national federation, then approach the Indian Olympic Association if needed, while also appointing a nodal officer to monitor each association.

“SDAT will intervene henceforth. Even if there are internal issues, we will speak to the governing body, then approach the IOA and take care of the players. We will also appoint an officer from our side to monitor every association individually,” he said.

Aadhav cited volleyball as one of the sports where players had suffered because of prolonged disputes. “Volleyball players have been badly affected. For more than five years, Forms 1, 2 and 3 have not been received because of internal issues,” he said.

The minister said the larger aim was to ensure that athletes do not lose opportunities, scholarships, certificates or selection chances because of fights within governing bodies.

Aadhav, a former SDAT hostel student and basketball player, also spoke from personal experience while announcing welfare measures for residential athletes. He said he understood the life of a hostel athlete because he had lived it himself after moving from Tiruchirappalli.

After a hard day of training, he said, athletes return to their rooms exhausted and need basic comfort to recover properly. He announced that all SDAT sports hostel rooms would be air-conditioned.

The announcement came a day after the state allocated an additional Rs 12.67 crore for 2,600 residential athletes training at SDAT hostels, special sports hostels and centres of excellence. The daily food allowance has been raised from Rs 350 to Rs 450, while uniform and equipment allowances have also been increased.

Aadhav said Tamil Nadu’s sports policy would now move beyond isolated welfare announcements and towards a wider structure for talent identification, training and athlete support. He reiterated plans for a 34-sport Olympic City in Thiruporur and said ten mini sports academies would be created in districts that have traditionally remained away from major sporting centres.

He cited Kalvarayan hills in Kallakurichi as one such area, where an Olympic academy would be established for tribal communities. Similar academies, he said, would be developed in districts such as Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Dharmapuri.

“The aim of these Olympic academies is to bring together 6,000 school physical education teachers and introduce them to a single vision,” Aadhav said. “They will be distributed according to their expertise to places where that sport can thrive. Their coaching can help people there and they will also be used in talent scouting roles.”

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he minister also addressed the use of sports venues for non-sporting events. In Chennai, multipurpose use of major venues has often affected training and competition schedules, with football and other sports having to share infrastructure with corporate and public events. Aadhav said the state’s upcoming 15,000-seat conference hall in the ECR area would help shift such gatherings away from indoor sports venues.

Corporate events that were earlier held at indoor stadiums would be moved to the new conference facility, he said, allowing sports arenas to be used primarily for training and competition.

Aadhav also linked the state’s sports expansion plans to its anti-drug campaign. He said SDAT would conduct an anti-drug awareness run on June 26, observed globally as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, as part of the government’s effort to steer young people towards sport. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay is also expected to attend the event.

“No youth should touch drugs. All youth should shift towards sports. Wherever there are empty grounds in Tamil Nadu, SDAT will take them over through MoUs. We have already taken over four such vacant lands in Chennai. We will fence them, put up lights and let the youth play there,” he said.

The minister said North Chennai would also be a focus area in the coming months, with plans for a boxing complex and a football ground. He added that existing player development schemes would be upgraded to ensure that athletes representing Tamil Nadu are not forced to bear major expenses on their own.

“If a player comes to us with a grant of Rs 10 lakh but his expenditure is Rs 18 lakh, and he submits the bills, SDAT will approve the full Rs 18 lakh. We need to take care of the players who wear the Tamil Nadu shirt,” Aadhav said.

The event also saw the opening of new sports infrastructure, including a hockey stadium, para-athlete arenas worth Rs 3 crore in Dindigul and Krishnagiri, and Chief Minister’s Youth Sports Complexes in Virudhunagar, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Dharmapuri and Thoothukudi at a cost of Rs 2.46 crore.

Published on Jun 23, 2026