Concerned over India’s dismal performance in Rio Olympics, where it could manage only two medals, the government is taking a serious note of India’s poor track record in the highest sporting arena in the world. It has prepared a draft action plan where it has ambitiously targeted 50 medals in the 2024 Olympics. For this, the Niti Aayog has prepared a 20-point action plan where it has suggested that by prioritising 10 sports with high winning potential and in which India has won medals in the past, the objective can be achieved.
Incidentally, it has also praised the previous UPA regime’s effort of cleansing the sports administration through the draft National Sports Development Bill, 2013, which the Manmohan Singh-led dispensation had unsuccessfully tried to get through in Parliament.
The strategy paper has come in the aftermath of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing in August that a task force for the next three Olympics would soon be formed to suggest measures to improve India’s performance in the world’s premier sporting event.
Sources privy to the development said that the PMO was disappointed with the fact that after bagging its richest ever haul of six medals in 2012 London Olympics, India, despite sending its largest ever contingent of 100 plus athletes, could manage only two medals in Rio. Subsequently, the government think tank came up with the strategy paper titled “Let’s Play — An Action Plan to achieve 50 Olympic Medals.”
The Niti Aayog as a short term strategy has suggested to the government that it is important to prioritise 10 sports and develop an outcome oriented action plan for each of these sports.
“Countries like Kenya and Jamaica participate in only two Olympics sports but have managed to get a medal tally of 100 and 78 respectively. The 10 priority sports should be ones with high winning potential as well as those in which India has won medals in the past. The action plan should be extensive in its coverage,” the Niti Aayog has recommended.
It (the plan) should include targets in the next four year cycle, training and coaching schedules to achieve those targets, medical, psychological and drug test schedules, institutional and private support systems for all categories of players of each sport. Each action plan should be reviewed after every 4 years and its outcomes assessed annually, the action plan suggests.
As part of long term measures, the Niti Aayog has underlined that the principle of ‘catching them young’ should be adapted.
“Studies suggest that a growing number of coaches, parents, and children believe that the best strategy to produce superior young sportspersons is to have them specialised in one sport from an early age. This strategy has produced successful young sportspersons across different countries in the recent Olympics. China’s successful sportspersons in swimming had their talent identified at an age of 4 – 5 years. Similarly, the recent success of Germany in football has been attributed to successful youth academies of under-12-year olds,” it said.
Presently, the only provision India has to identify young talent is through Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) National Sports Talent Contest, (NSTC) Scheme. The NSTC scheme scouts sports talent in the age group of 8 – 14 years from schools and nurtures them into future medal hopes by providing scientific training.
“However there is lack of awareness towards this scheme and lack of focus towards developing individual talent in the age group of 5 – 10 years.
The talent can be scouted through national level competitions for the priority sports. These competitions can start from the tehsil level across all schools and conclude at the national level. This annual competition across the 10 priority sports should be well publicized so as to reach all corners of the country. Both private and public schools should be allowed to participate.” the Niti Aayog has suggested.
It has also rued the fact that there is a lack of sports academies that target individual sport disciplines in India.
