Plans to make India global sporting superpower in place since Covid: Govt

Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday asserted that India will be among the world's top-five sporting nations by 2047, revealing that the roadmap to achieve this was worked out amid the upheaval caused by Covid-19 three years ago.

Mandaviya said sports is a focus area in the government's ambitious plan to turn India into a superpower by 2047.

"When the country was under Covid-19 lockdown, the government was brainstorming for 2047, making a roadmap for 2047. One of the components of that roadmap is sports," Mandaviya said during a panel discussion on India's preparations for Paris Olympics.

The discussion was organised by the Delhi Sports Journalists Association in collaboration with the Sports Authority of India.

 

"Our government has set a target that in 2047, when we are a developed country, we also need to be among the top five in sports. If we don't have a pathway, we will not know whether we can achieve the target or not.

"During the Covid crisis, I have been witness to all that planning," he asserted.

Mandaviya was the union health minister during the pandemic and was widely praised for overseeing the roll-out of the vaccines to battle the virus in early 2021.

The minister said with the kind of diversity India has, it has huge potential to be a superpower in sports.

"This is such a diverse country where we have a lot of potential. We have been blessed with a lot of potential. There is unlimited talent, the only thing is giving opportunity to them.

KIRTI project

Mandaviya also launched the second phase of the KIRTI project with an aim to identify one lakh young athletes within 100 days, for support.

He felt the nationwide talent hunt under Khelo India Rising Talent Identification (KIRTI) will prove to be a stepping stone to making India one of the top five nations in the Olympic Games by 2047.

"India is full of diversity and potential. There has never been a shortage of brainpower, manpower, or talent in India," said Mandaviya after launching the second phase of the programme at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.

"Not just the cities, but even in our far-flung areas like the North-East, Coastal, Himalayan and tribal areas can have a quality sportsperson there."

In the third Phase, the KIRTI program will include all 20 disciplines of the Khelo India scheme. The first phase of KIRTI was launched in Chandigarh on March 12 this year.

"We need to have a steady stream of these high-performing assets and that's where KIRTI, a stepping stone to sporting excellence, comes into play.

"Everyone will be given opportunities to develop their sports skills, whether they live in a village or a city, and whether they come from a poor background or otherwise."

In Delhi, Sports Authority of India (SAI) shall conduct assessment of over 25,000 MCD students in 12 zones and cover 5 major disciplines: Athletics, Football, Volleyball, Kabaddi, and Kho-Kho, for almost one month.

Addressing school-going children, who attended the launch event, Mandaviya said, "Among you, there will certainly be an Olympic champion. I appreciate the fact that your parents have come and are backing you to play sports.