05 Aug India’s Sports Infrastructure and the 2036 Olympics Ambition
Why in the News?
India aims to bid for the 2036 Olympics, but inadequate world-class sports infrastructure, limited talent development and weak grassroots systems remain major challenges.
The government has significantly increased funding for the Khelo India Scheme to strengthen India’s sporting ecosystem and develop athletes capable of competing at the global level.
India’s Olympic Performance: Need for Improvement
- India’s best-ever Olympic performance in the 21st century was at:
- Tokyo Olympics 2021: 48th position with 7 medals.
- Paris Olympics 2024: 71st position with 6 medals.
- To become a top-10 sporting nation, India needs a substantial increase in its medal tally.
- India would need approximately 30–40 medals, including gold medals, to enter the elite sporting group.
Khelo India Scheme: Building Grassroots Talent
The Union Cabinet has approved ₹29,054 crore for the new phase of the Khelo India Scheme, representing an eight-fold increase.
Major Objectives
- Identify and nurture talent at the grassroots level.
- Increase:
- Khelo India Centres
- State Centres of Excellence
- National Centres of Excellence
- Accredited academies
- Expand sports infrastructure from around 1 centre per district to more than 1,000 centres.
- Involve schools and clubs in talent identification.
- Encourage talented children to participate in club-level competitions.
- Upgrade sports facilities and strengthen grassroots coaching.
Improving Quality of Coaching
Key Initiatives
- National Coach Accreditation Board to standardise coaching practices.
- Improve knowledge and skills of local coaches.
- Address the language barrier caused by English in accessing coaching knowledge.
- Better utilisation of Physical Education teachers for basic-level sports training.
- Improve technical capacity of coaches and officials.
Significance
Quality coaching is essential to transform grassroots talent into elite athletes capable of competing at the Olympics.
Integrating Education and Sports
The sports ecosystem is being linked with educational institutions in line with the National Education Policy (NEP).
Key Initiatives
- Khelo India Feeder Schools
- Khelo India Utkrisht Vidyalaya
- Greater integration of education and sports
- Early identification of sporting talent within schools
This can help create a systematic pathway from school-level participation → talent identification → professional training → elite competition.
Emerging Khelo India Athletes Initiative
- Existing Khelo India Athletes programme has 2,904 athletes.
- The Emerging Khelo India Athletes initiative aims to expand the talent pool to around 28,000 athletes.
- Focus areas include:
- Talent identification
- Digitisation of the sports ecosystem
- Maintaining athlete data
- Better communication between stakeholders
Financial Support for Sports
The overall sports-sector allocation, including assistance to National Sports Federations, is projected at around ₹36,441 crore for 2026–31.
Other Supporting Mechanisms
- Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) supports athletes with potential to win Olympic medals.
- Greater coordination between the Centre, States, academies, schools and sports federations is required.
Major Challenges
1. Infrastructure Deficit
India still lacks sufficient world-class sports facilities and training infrastructure, particularly at the grassroots level.
2. Weak Implementation
Merely increasing financial allocations will not guarantee results. Effective and transparent implementation is crucial.
3. Coaching Gap
The quality and availability of trained coaches remains uneven across regions.
4. Talent Identification
India needs a systematic mechanism to identify talent early and provide sustained support throughout an athlete’s career.
5. Doping
India faces the challenge of being perceived as a doping-prone sporting nation.
Strict anti-doping measures and greater awareness are therefore essential.
6. Sports Culture
India needs to develop a stronger sports culture, rather than focusing predominantly on academics and conventional career paths.
Way Forward
- Upgrade sports infrastructure across districts.
- Strengthen grassroots talent identification.
- Improve coach accreditation and training.
- Integrate sports with schools and educational institutions.
- Expand scientific support through sports medicine, nutrition, psychology and performance analytics.
- Strengthen anti-doping mechanisms.
- Promote the Fit India Movement.
- Ensure transparent and effective implementation of sports schemes.
- Provide sustained support to athletes beyond a single Olympic cycle.
Significance for India’s 2036 Olympic Ambition
India’s Olympic ambition requires a shift from a medal-centric approach to a complete sports ecosystem.
Grassroots participation → Talent identification → Quality coaching → Sports science → Competitive exposure → Elite performance → Olympic medals
The 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad can serve as an important test of India’s sporting infrastructure and organisational capacity.
UPSC Relevance
GS Paper II: Government policies and interventions, education and human resource development
GS Paper III: Sports infrastructure, human capital, technology and development
Essay: Sports as an instrument of youth development, national identity and soft power
SDGs: SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities)
UPSC Prelims Practice Question
Q. With reference to India’s efforts to strengthen its sporting ecosystem, consider the following statements:
- The Khelo India Scheme seeks to promote sports talent identification and development at the grassroots level.
- The Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) is aimed at providing support to athletes with potential to win medals at major international sporting events.
- The Khelo India programme focuses exclusively on Olympic sports and does not involve schools or educational institutions.
- The National Coach Accreditation Board is intended to promote standardisation and improvement of coaching practices.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1, 2 and 4 only
(b) 1 and 3 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer: (a) 1, 2 and 4 only
Explanation:
- Statement 1 – Correct: Khelo India focuses on grassroots-level talent identification and development.
- Statement 2 – Correct: TOPS provides assistance to elite athletes with the potential to win medals at international competitions, including the Olympics.
- Statement 3 – Incorrect: Khelo India also involves schools and educational institutions in talent identification and sports development.
- Statement 4 – Correct: The National Coach Accreditation Board aims to standardise coaching and improve the quality of sports training.
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