Raising the game

The extreme hot weather may be a dampener, but the inspiring stories of young athletes achieving success in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds have lit up the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG), being held in Panchkula and a few other venues in the region. The Modi government’s flagship sports initiative — which includes a gamut of events like School Games, University Games, Games for Differently-Abled Persons and for indigenous sports — aims to incubate the development of next-generation athletes and give a fillip to the sports culture and infrastructure at the grassroots level. Though measuring the success of a national project through individual brilliance is inadvisable, what the initiative has managed to do is to provide an appropriate platform to the youth — budding athletes are given the recognition they so richly deserve.

Khelo India has been projected as the breeding ground for Olympics medal-winners, but sport is a dedicated, continuous, long-term engagement. India has had sports events for schoolgoers for a long time — the National School Games, for instance — but the profile of KIYG is sky-high due to the interest taken at the highest level of the government. Being feted at such an event is certain to raise the confidence and motivation of young athletes. This augurs well for India’s sporting future. India’s overall medal tally in the Olympic Games is nothing to write home about, but the Tokyo edition did mark a discernible change. Athletes from all sporting events became household names, and every achievement is now duly noted, even in para events. The Prime Minister himself taking time out to meet contingents representing the country cannot be viewed as mere optics. The import of this simple gesture can be huge.

Yet, Indian sport has been plagued by noble intentions dashed by poor execution. Olympic medallists, as a norm, start pursuing sport with zeal and professionalism right in their teens, sometimes from the pre-teen years. This is where the Indian athlete is often let down by red tape, ego clashes among officials, unprofessional running of associations and lack of scientific research on training and injuries. Much must change on this front to ensure that our KIYG heroes do not fall through the holes in the system.