India wants more Olympic medals but ‘doesn’t participate in half the sports’; PM Modi speaks out ‘bitter truth’ | Off the field News
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India cannot expect a significant rise in its Olympic medal tally unless it starts competing in many sports where it currently has little or no representation, including surfing and sport climbing.Addressing athletes, students and volunteers virtually during the Khelo India Dialogue ahead of National Sports Day on August 29, PM Modi said India’s sports vision is not just about winning medals but also about making sports a part of nation-building.Sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya joined the event virtually from IIT Gandhinagar.Prime Minister Modi pointed out that India still does not compete in many Olympic sports. “In the Olympics, there are so many different sports… Indian teams don’t even participate in half of them, which means that we are not competing for a major chunk of the medal tally,” Modi said, calling it a “bitter truth”.He said this has been the situation for many years.“And this has been going on for decades. In 2012, we competed in only 13 sports. We were not even there in over 20 events and not many in the country even knew about some of these competitions.“Other countries win medals in those sports, and we don’t even participate. To increase our medals, we have to improve in these sports,” he pointed out.India participated in 16 of the 32 sports at the 2024 Paris Olympics.PM Modi specifically mentioned surfing and sport climbing, two sports that are part of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics but have never seen an Indian competitor.“For example surfing and sport climbing…We have such a vast coastline, we have such a vast hilly region where there could be a natural affinity for sports like these. from water sports to winter sports, we have the required demography as well as geography,” he asserted.He said India has the natural conditions to develop athletes in these sports.“Despite this, we are not seen in these sports anywhere in the world. That’s why we have to find opportunities of growing these sports in different regions. To increase our medal tally, we will have to master these sports as well,” he added.
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