Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India is a strong contender to host the 2036 Olympics and to ensure that the country also has a strong presence in the mega-event, a nationwide talent hunt would be launched to identify prospects in the age group of 5 to 15.
Addressing the country from the ramparts of Red Fort on the 80th Independence Day, Modi said the government’s flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), which was launched in 2014, has been a major success in providing support to athletes.
“India is making space for itself in the world of sports. We hear our national anthem frequently and see our tri-colour going up very often. TOPS has achieved great success. Whether it is Khelo India Games, University Games, Beach Games, Winter Games, or sports training, sports medicine, sports nutrition, India is moving ahead at great pace,” he said.
“India’s performance is improving, and we are strong contenders to become an Olympic host in 2036. We are hosting the CWG in 2030. There are about 40 disciplines in Olympics, with nearly 350 events. It is sad that we don’t compete in at least two third of these events because we are not even able to qualify.
“We have decided that in 2036, we should have participation in at least three fourth events. We are launching a nationwide talent hunt for children aged 5 to 15 to identify prospects in every corner of the country. They will get special training to become world class athletes,” he added.
The fate of India’s 2036 bid is expected to be known only in 2029.
As per reports in January this year the plans to start a talent hunt with the 2036 Games in view were in the brainstorming stage so that the country finds its footing in disciplines like aquatics and cycling. Both these competitions offer over a 100 Olympic medals combined but none so far for India.
It’s an approach that China adopted for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It drastically improved its performance in disciplines that it didn’t do well previously, such as boxing, canoeing and archery, for a record tally of 100 medals in that edition.
Driving India’s expansion plan would be aquatics, cycling, rowing and gymnastics.
Aquatics, which includes swimming, diving, waterpolo, artistic swimming, and open water swimming, will offer 55 of the more than 350 overall medals that will be up for grabs across 36 disciplines in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
But India is not expected to get any of these.
Ditto for rowing, which has 45 medals at stake in Los Angeles across 15 events, and cycling, where 22 events will throw up 66 medals.
India is hosting the 2030 CWG in Ahmedabad, which is also in the race to host the 2036 Olympics.
The talent hunt programme will rely heavily on Artificial Intelligence which will be used for fitness battery tests, which are a series of exercises to measure cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, speed and agility, flexibility and balance along with movement.
“Not every school-going kid would know his sporting capabilities or take to sport naturally. But if we are able to take our talent hunt nationwide through basic tests to understand individual capabilities, we might find kids who are good at sport but don’t yet know about it,” a government source had said.
Right now, the government’s Khelo India Talent Development (KITD) scheme focuses on identifying young sporting talent at all levels.
The programme provides formative training and creates a pathway to Khelo India Academies, National Camps, and other elite sports schemes.
As per the Sports Ministry, there are 1067 Khelo India Centres (KICs) for this across the nation.
More sports events in India
The Prime Minister also said that India should aspire to host more international events.
“Why don't you honor the world's sports events in India? (Why should global events not be held in India),” he asked.
The Sports Ministry, headed by Mansukh Mandaviya, has already unveiled a calender which includes 11 international competitions in India in the next six months. This includes the Badminton World Championships beginning in Delhi on Monday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Read Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed.)