Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) is India's first privately-funded high performance training centre for athletes. Founded by the

JSW Group JSW Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, based in Mumbai. It is led by Sajjan Jindal and part of the O.P. Jindal Group. The Group's diverse businesses include steel, energy, infrastructure, cement and paints, across India, the Unite ...

, the facility is spread over 42 acres in Vijayanagar,

Bellary district Bellary, officially known as Ballari (pronounced ), is a major district in Karnataka. It is located at north-eastern part of Karnataka. This district belongs to Kalyana-Karnataka. This district was one of the biggest districts in Karnataka unt ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. The institute provides full scholarships to athletes scouted from across the country in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

. According to

Parth Jindal Parth Jindal (born 19 May 1990) is an Indian businessman and scion of JSW Group. Early life and education Jindal is the youngest of three children of Sajjan Jindal and Sangita Jindal. Jindal earned his MBA from Harvard Business School in 201 ...

, the founder of IIS, the inspiration for starting the institute came from

Abhinav Bindra Abhinav Apjit Bindra is an Indian Olympic gold medallist, retired sport shooter, and businessman.2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. The construction of the institute began in 2014 in a hillock area in Vijayanagar, about 30 km away from

Hampi Hampi or Hampe, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Hampi (town), Hampi town, Vijayanagara district, east-central Karnataka, India. Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire i ...

and adjacent to JSW Group's Vidyanagar township. The construction of a 42000 sq. ft sports combat hall, a 16,000 sq. ft strength and conditioning centre and hostels was completed in April 2017, while the athletics track and a sports medicine centre was completed in 2018. An aquatics centre is expected to be prepared by 2019. The centre will also be the base for JSW Sports-owned

Bengaluru FC Bengaluru Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bangalore, Karnataka. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was established on 20 July 2013, and began its first ...

's youth teams. The entire facility reportedly cost 100 crore. IIS is recognized by

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex national sports body of India, established in 1982 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of Government of India for the development of sports in India. SAI has 2 Sports Academic institution ...

as a Khelo India-accredited development centre for boxing and wrestling. The athletics track has been approved by the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

while the aquatics centre will have the approval of

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

. IIS was inaugurated on 15 August 2018, on the occasion of India's 72nd

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

. The facility, however, had been under use for over a year before the inauguration; among the athletes who have undergone training and rehab at IIS include

Vinesh Phogat Vinesh Phogat (born 25 August 1994) is an Indian wrestler. She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold in both Commonwealth and Asian Games. She is the only Indian woman wrestler to win multiple medals at the World Wrestling Champi ...

and

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

gold medalist

Neeraj Chopra Neeraj Chopra (born 24 December 1997) is a track and field athlete from India. He is the reigning Olympic champion, silver medalist in the World Championship, and the Diamond League champion in Javelin throw. He is the first Asian athlete to win ...

References

External links

Official website
{{coord missing, Karnataka Sports academies JSW Group Buildings and structures in Bellary district Sport schools in India Sport in Karnataka 2018 establishments in Karnataka