India has predominantly been a cricketing nation. The nation has been obsessed with cricket since the pre-British era. This has led to a clear dichotomy in the sporting landscape of India. The Indian National Men’s Cricket team is at the pinnacle of sports while the other sports have been underserviced and neglected for long.
However there has been a clear change in India’s approach towards sports. Lately there have been renewed impetus on other sports with various scholarships and training institutes being announced in India. The government has a full blown sports ministry which has been focused on nurturing India’s young and vast talent.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports being headed by a former Olympic medalist Mr. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. This has been a welcome change from bureaucrats handling ministries. There have been growing focus on training at a very nascent age to allow youngsters to thrive in various sports and compete with their global peers.
There have been various training institutions like Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Bhiwani Boxing Club, Indian Athletic Academy etc who are focusing on other sports. The Sports and Youth Ministry received a total allocation of Rs 2196 crore in the union budget for 2018-19. India has a long way to mark its arrival at the Global stage and announce its here to stay. In the recent Asian games 2018 India has bettered its medals tally vis-a-vis their performance the last time around by winning 63 medals in the Asian Arena.
The message is being clearly sent that India is a powerhouse which cannot be ignored and is going to only improve its performance going forward.
India still has a long way to go but with the right infrastructure and talent management we are the next bright star in the global sporting arena.
Our only focus should be to nurture our youth and provide them with the platform which can bring glory to India and the Indian National Flag.
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