Akhilesh Mishra, the Indian High Commissioner appointed to the Maldives, strongly supports the initiative taken by the MOC towards the development of sport in the country.

The Maldives made its Olympic Games debut at Seoul 1988 with seven track and field representatives.

After competing in seven editions of the Games, the Asian country continues to search for its first medal.

As a means to support the programme, Mishra stated that he would do "everything in his power" to make the programme a success to the benefit of local athletes.

In his statement, Mishra said he observed the performance of Maldivian athletes at the South Asian Games held in Guwahati, India, earlier this year.

As such, Mishra said he was more than willing to communicate with the respective high performance centres in India to assist in the placement of Maldivian athletes for training.

With the average age of the Maldives population at 35 years, he noted that sport plays a vital role in the development of the island nation.