Believing in the maxim of ‘invest in youth and sports to invest in future’ since 1997, particularly after 2005, KIIT & KISS have been promoting sports, nurturing sportspersons and creating sports infrastructure that has become a model for other universities in India to emulate. Very early on, during the formative days of KIIT & KISS, Dr Samanta realised the importance of investment in sports, much like the universities in western countries. KIIT and KISS have successfully built the best sports infrastructure of international standards – all ideated, implemented and monitored by Dr Samanta, who did not have the luxury of playing any game or sports. His institutions encourage students to practice any sport in their leisure for recreation, wellness, fitness and mental strength besides nurturing sportspersons by providing the right atmosphere to train and compete at the highest level. Dr Samanta has always encouraged participation in sports by providing scholarships, patronage and sponsorship.

KIIT has a huge athletics stadium, a cricket stadium, archery ground, Rugby ground, Velodrome, and a hockey/football stadium with a huge seating capacity. Besides these, there are 18 sports complexes that have one Olympic size swimming pool, 15 practice pools, and 15 high-performance gyms. Various Ministers of Youth Affairs and Sports, including Shri Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Shri Kiren Rijiju and Shri Anurag Thakur have hailed the sporting facilities at KIIT & KISS, besides sporting legends like Gopichand, PT Usha and Leander Paes. Historically, the facilities have been named after legends in the respective domains. The facilities and infrastructure for all events of the Olympics are available at the university. Sports of National and some International levels are regularly held at KIIT & KISS, as all facilities are available in one place. Comfortable luxury accommodations and an attached 2600 bedded multi-speciality hospital is available on campus, which makes it conducive for hosting multi-disciplinary events such as the 1st Khelo India University Games 2020 (17 disciplines), the 25th All India Forest Sports Meet 2020 (23 disciplines) among several others.

Over 300 sports personnel under different heads work under the Department of Sports, KIIT & KISS. It is an empowered and decentralised wing that works towards all endeavours related to sports, conducting events, management of the facilities, training of students and specialised practice for the athletes and sportspersons. KISS, on the other hand, has produced 5000+ tribal athletes, of which 200+ have participated and bagged medals at the international level, while the others have participated at the school, college, state and national levels. Investment in sports at KISS has paid dividends by ushering in gender equality. Sports and academics have always gone hand in hand at KISS. In fact, Dr Samanta says, ‘Play while you Learn and Learn while you Play’. If Odisha is the hub of sports talent in India, KIIT & KISS is at the core of the convergence of sporting prowess.

Dr Samanta has promoted many sports, especially Rugby and Chess from scratch in Odisha and has placed KIIT & KISS, Odisha and India on the world map with regard to the conduct of those sports. KISS is the only institution in India to integrate Chess into its academic curriculum. It is also an associate sponsor of Rugby India. Both KIIT & KISS have also aimed at making Sports more inclusive by establishing 10 sports academies for talented sportspersons in and around Odisha. The institutions have also introduced sports in rural areas such as Volleyball in Kandhamal, Phulbani & Boudh and Chess in Kalarabanka.

Through his institutions he has nurtured 12 Olympians who are pursuing their education at KIIT and KISS. Without basking in the glory of the past, Dr Samanta and his team are constantly and dedicatedly working to send 10 students to the 2024 Olympics. Now, the world recognises the silent contribution of Odisha in sports, and similarly, KIIT and KISS as universities will soon be known as the hunting ground for talent. The vision of Dr Samanta is to provide quality sporting facilities at schools & colleges so that future stars receive proper training from an early age. If all universities follow the model of KIIT & KISS of backing their sportspersons, we can double down on the progress we are already making in sports.

Unique Recognition

• KIIT and KISS are the nodal centres for the FIFA Football For Schools Programme and FIVB Volleyball for All Programme in South Asia. It is first of its kind in the world for FIFA and FIVB
• For its contribution to Sports and Encouraging Sports personnel, KIIT has received Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar 2022 by Government of India
• The University has been conferred the Sportstar Award, FICCI India Sports and Biju Patnaik Award for the promotion of sports
• KIIT is the only education institution in India to be granted institutional membership by All India Chess Federation (AICF)
• KIIT and KISS hosted the first ever Janjatiya Khel Mohatsav 2023