Let certain regions focus on certain games: Sports Secretary

On his first day in office, new Sports Secretary Rajiv Yadav today endorsed suggestions that some regions of the country should focus only on those sports which have a strong base in that particular area.
"We need to give extra focus on some sports which are our strength. Even on these disciplines, we need to focus on certain areas of the country where these disciplines have strong base," said Yadav, who took charge as sports secretary today, said.
He was speaking at the 'National Conference on the Business of Sports.
Former football goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey, one of the panelists, suggested that Sports Authority of India Centres in different parts of country should focus on a single or few sports.

"SAI Centre in Haryana should focus on boxing and wrestling, while the centre in Kolkata can have table tennis and athletics as focussed disciplines. Manipur SAI Centre should focus on boxing and football while women's athletics and football should be the sports to be focussed in SAI facility in Kerala," Chaubey said.
Responding to it, Yadav said, "This is a worthy suggestion. When I looked back, I can tell you that I played a lot of sports. I was into table tennis, lawn tennis and other sports in my school and college days. Then I tried my hand in golf and finally now I do yoga.

"We keep on doing different things (sports) but we don't excel (focus) in any one particular sport. This is what we have been doing. So, we need to focus and identify key areas of investment," said the sports secretary.
He said he will do his best to raise the profile of Indian sport.
"Sports is a serious business these days. It is a happy business. It is a Rs 2 billion business now. We need to take this business seriously. One sportsperson's win in any sport was a matter of rejoice for all the Indians and gives everyone a psychological boost. I will do my best to invest in proud Indians," Yadav said.