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[caption id="attachment_12476" align="alignnone" width="580"] Indian sportspersons with Goodwill Ambassador Salman Khan.[/caption] Internet Desk: India will be sending its largest ever contingent - about 90 sports persons - to Rio Olympics beginning August 5. "About 90 athletes have qualified for Olympics in Rio. India will send the largest ever contingent this year," said Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, while replying on behalf of Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal during Question Hour at Lok Sabha. Rijiju said 58 sports persons have qualified for individual events while 32 hockey players -- both men and women -- also qualified to participate in the Olympics. The Minister said special assistance has been given to sporting talents for their training both in India and abroad. Trinamool Congress MP and former footballer Prasun Banerjee, who had participated in Olympics in Moscow in 1980, said there was no dearth of talent in India but sports persons face problems in getting assistance and proper infrastructure. Rijiju said government was always ready to accept suggestions and advice for improvement of sports, sporting infrastructure and promotion of athletes. Meanwhile, a 40-member contingent consisting of the core probables from Indian Athletics, left for Spala in central Poland on Monday for the last leg of preparations ahead of this year’s Summer Olympics. The team, featuring both male and female participants in the 400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relays other than seven leading javelin throwers, will set up camp to train at the state-of-the-art Olympic Preparation Centre in Spala, where they will be joined by the Indian race-walkers who have already qualified for the 20km and 50km events to be held at Rio once they are done competing at the IAAF Race Walk World Championships in Rome. The Sports Ministry has, therefore, decided to bear all the expenses for the group of participants, coaches and support staff alike, who are set to spend the next three months at the Eastern European address. The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Secretary General Mr C. K. Valson expressed his earnest gratitude to Mr Tomasz Lukaszuk, the Ambassador of Poland in New Delhi for his support in providing the Indian squad with this delightful opportunity to shift base to Spala in an effort to bolster their preparatory campaign for the Olympic games. He also made it a point to thank the Sports Authority of India and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for their respective contributions to the programme.