5 years after Malleswari became first V-C, Delhi Sports University to appoint new head

Nearly five years after Karnam Malleswari — who won a bronze medal in weightlifting at the 2000 Sydney Olympics to become the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal — was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of Delhi Sports University, the government has initiated the process to appoint the university’s next head.

The eligibility criteria requires that the candidate should be a distinguished sports scholar, sportsperson of international eminence, coach of international eminence, or a professor in a reputed sports institution or academy with at least 10 years of experience.

The inclusion of an internationally eminent sports coach and a professor from a reputed sports institution or academy is based on the First Statutes of Delhi Sports University, notified in January 2022. The Delhi Sports University Act, 2019, under Section 26, states that the Vice-Chancellor shall be a “Sports scholar or a sports person of international eminence”. The First Statutes, made under the Act, also list qualifications required for the post.

The appointment will be made from a panel recommended by a search-cum-selection committee comprising a former or serving Director of the National Institute of Sports, Patiala; a former or serving Director of the Sports Authority of India or Director (Sports), Delhi government; a distinguished sportsperson of international stature; and the Principal Secretary/Secretary, Higher Education, Delhi government, who is the member-secretary. The committee is to recommend a panel of three names to the Chancellor.

Malleswari was appointed as the university’s first V-C in 2021, when the institution was being established under the Delhi Sports University Act. The university’s statutory mandate covers sports education and training, the identification and development of sporting talent, and research and teaching in sports science and related disciplines.