Mumbai, Aug 23: Bollywood mega-star Aamir Khan will be part of Maharashtra Government's Mission Shakti' initiative to groom sportspersons with medal-winning potential for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympiad, a top official said here on Thursday. Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the actor has consented to support the patriotic initiative and will visit Tadoba Park in Chandrapur for a related programme soon. Starting this year (2018), 'Mission Shakti' will target sports like weight-lifting, archery, shooting, swimming, athletics, volleyball and gymnastics, with excellence in physical endurance, fitness, superior stamina and other features included in a rigorous selection test.

"Along with all necessary educational facilities, the students from Chandrapur and Gadchiroli region will be provided training of international levels in these sports. Financial help will be sought from the corporate world for this initiative," Mungantiwar said. For this, sports complexes are coming up in all administrative blocks of these districts by December, besides a special sports enclave in Ballarpur, which Khan has decided to visit soon as part of the 'Mission Shakti' programme. Incidentally, in the past couple of years, the state had launched 'Mission Shaurya' in which teenage tribal students, including girls, of ashram schools from Chandrapur and Gadchiroli had scaled Mt. Everest on May 16, 2018, Mungantiwar said.

Given the resounding success of 'Mission Shaurya', the minister expressed confidence that within the next six years, this region of eastern Maharashtra will be in a position to produce athletes of Olympic class before the Paris Olympics in 2024, through 'Mission Shakti.'

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 24, 2018 11:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).