Chennai: After the success of the para-athlete sports scholarship, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and SBI Foundation have expanded the programme to support 80 para-athletes across eight paralympic disciplines.In the first phase, the scholarship was awarded to 26 athletes who collectively won 70 medals — 32 gold, 22 silver and 16 bronze — in national and international competitions.In the second phase, the scholarship will be awarded to 40 male and 40 female para-athletes across archery, athletics, badminton, judo, powerlifting, shooting, swimming and taekwondo sports.Each athlete will get a monthly scholarship stipend of ₹40,000 for a year, in addition to sports science-based performance assessments, sports nutrition guidance and personalised support to improve competitive performance.Indian para-athletes up to 35 years who have represented their state and India in recognised national or international competitions are eligible to apply, subject to the programme’s selection criteria and submission of the required supporting documents.Candidates can apply till Aug 9 on the following link: https://sbif-ace-pass.sbifoundation.info/
