IIT-M admits five under Sports Excellence Admission scheme

chennai: iit madras has admitted five talented athletes under its newly introduced 'sports excellence admission' (sea) category for the academic year 2024-2025. this initiative, launched in february 2024, allows athletes with national accolades to gain admission through a separate portal. aimed at encouraging sports alongside academics, the program reserves two supernumerary seats per undergraduate program for indian nationals, with one seat dedicated to female students.to qualify, candidates must clear the jee (advanced) and secure a position in the common or category-wise rank list. additionally, applicants must have won at least one medal in a national or international competition in the last four years. a sports rank list (srl) is created to allocate seats based on athletic achievements.the five selected athletes hail from delhi, maharashtra, west bengal, and andhra pradesh, excelling in volleyball, water polo, squash, lawn tennis, table tennis, and swimming. among them are arohi bhave (maharashtra), aryaman mandal (west bengal), nandini jain (delhi), prabhav gupta (delhi), and vangala vedavachan reddy (andhra pradesh).iit madras, director, prof. v. kamakoti, emphasized the importance of encouraging sports from a young age, while prof. mahesh panchagnula, dean (emeritus), affirmed that the initiative maintains high academic standards alongside recognizing sporting achievements.