Bihar Government Launches A Massive Sports Talent Hunt
The winners at various levels of Bihar's sports talent hunt will be awarded medals, e-certificates, and a total of Rs 10 crore in cash prizes.
Patna:
The search is being jointly organised by the Bihar State Sports Authority (BSSA), Department of Sports, Department of Education, State Council of Educational Research and Training, and the Bihar Education Project Council. It is being conducted separately for boys and girls in two age groups – under 14 and under 16.
“It is a five-tier competition, which includes school-level, cluster-level, block-level, district-level, and finally state-level rounds. Selected athletes from each level will qualify for the next stage,” BSSA director general and chief executive officer (CEO) Raveendran Shankaran said.
The talent hunt would be in various sports disciplines including athletics, kabaddi, football, and volleyball. Events under athletics include running and long jump.The winners at various levels will be awarded medals, e-certificates, and a total of Rs 10 crore in cash prizes.
The Bihar government has launched a massive sports talent hunt – Mashal – in which around 50 lakh students from over 38,000 secondary and higher secondary schools would participate. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inaugurated it on Thursday evening. “Our primary objective is to foster sports culture in the state and to identify sports talent at an early age to provide them with a high-level training and prepare them as national and international athletes,” Sankaran said.
Out of 38,228 schools across Bihar, around 16 lakh students have already registered for the competition. Tests are being conducted for about 12 lakh of them, with the rest scheduled to be tested soon. More students will register in the coming week.
At present the competition is being held in approximately 5,900 clusters of schools. Each school has around 77 participating students. Altogether 77 athletes would be selected from each cluster and would proceed to compete at the block level. There are 534 blocks in Bihar.
Q: When will the Mashal competition end?
Raveendran Sankaran: The Mashal competition is estimated to conclude in November 2025.
Q: How many students would be finally selected?
RS: A total of 2,926 students would be selected at the state-level competitions.
Q: Where will they be trained and by whom?
RS: The selected candidates would be inducted into various grassroots academies in Bihar, entering the long-term talent development programme through institutions like the Eklavya Sports Schools, Khelo India Small Centres, and BSSA Academies. The BSSA is in the process of hiring quality coaches for these academies and has already onboarded over 100 coaches to enhance training quality.
Q: What will be the future of the selected candidates?
RS: The selected candidates will be integrated into Bihar's sports scholarship policy, known as ‘Prerna’. They will receive financial support of up to Rs 3 lakh per year to cover training under experts, purchase sports equipment, and fulfil nutritional needs.
Q: Do you think the sports infrastructure in Bihar is adequate to cater to such competitions and train the selected candidates?
RS: The sports infrastructure in Bihar has seen significant upgrades following the recent hosting of the Khelo India Youth Games 2025. The Government of Bihar has constructed 252 mini-stadiums at the block level across the state and is actively working on building more.
Additionally, 25 Khel Bhawans have been established, with 13 more sanctioned and currently under construction. These centres include provisions for sports gyms and indoor arenas.
The Government of Bihar is constructing indoor sports complexes with residential facilities in the nine commissionerates in the state. They will cater to athletes at the developmental level. For high-performance athletes, the Rajgir Sports Complex – a 96-acre state-of-the-art campus – provides top-class infrastructure for various sports.
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