Time to revive India’s traditional sports: Director General, Sports Authority of India

 Mr Sandip Pradhan, Director General, Sports Authority of India today said that following the Prime Minister’s call on ‘Vocal for Local’, it is necessary to present India’s traditional games in a new avatar, which will further open up opportunities for Indian start-ups.”

Addressing a session on ‘Re-Setting the Sports Ecosystem: Opportunities in The New Normal World’ at FICCI FRAMES, Mr Pradhan said, “Being physical while leveraging digital is the new normal, so we need to re-set, re-invent and re-work our priorities. Sports Authority of India is organizing several online sports classes in association with the National Sporting Federations, which includes interactive sessions with young athletes about their techniques and how to develop their overall physical skills and mental abilities.” He added, “Even when the pandemic is over, these new initiatives would open previously unthought-of avenues to increase business.”

Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra, President, Indian Olympic Association said, “Corporates must adopt at least one Indian sport and broadcasters must allocate considerable time to promote them. Companies must realize that the wave of one athlete performing well can indirectly impact lakhs of others.” Stressing further on corporate partnerships, he said, “We cannot expect the government to take upon itself the onus of building a world-class sporting environment when it is stretched between the many priorities of a developing economy, this is where the corporate India needs to step in, and it has to be a collective effort.”

Ms Mithali Raj, Indian Cricketer, and Former Captain, Indian Women Cricket Team said, “Unfortunately, women’s Cricket may have been set back by a couple of year by this pandemic as some of the momentum that had been built between India’s success in World Cup 2017 and World T20 2020 has been lost. However, we have had discussions with BCCI to draw up a firm calendar for the Indian women’s team so that fans can regularly cheer for the team. The plans have obviously been disrupted but we believe we can re-build quickly. I think a full-fledged Women’s IPL is still 2-3 years away but we would certainly look to have a fourth team in the Women’s Challenge that is played concurrently with the IPL”

Mr Sunil Chhetri, Indian Footballer said, “The education sector can play a crucial role in promoting sports in India.” He added, “We must promote sports culture at the grassroot level and schools must encourage sports and fitness among students by making sports facilities available and dedicating more time during the school-day to sporting activities instead of treating it as a customary exercise”

Mr Mustafa Ghouse, Former Indian Tennis Player, and Chief Executive Officer, JSW Sports said, “We have invested across sports but private sector participation and funding is at times, inhibited by governance structures and legacy practices of sports bodies. We are exploring technology solutions that can be leveraged to enhance the experience of sport for elite athletes, amateur participants and fans.”

Mr Sanjog Gupta, Chair – FICCI Sports Committee and Sports Product Head – Star India, said, “The structure and models of governance for sport need to be re-designed. Each sport has its own unique realities and needs a custom approach for its growth. It needs to be as much a top-down approach needing re-organisation of the elite level of sport as a bottom up approach involving participation at the grassroots” He added, “The health of a sport depends on its fans and fans need to be at the centre of the sport’s governance models. After all, today’s fans are tomorrow’s athletes.”