Olympic Task Force Recommends Steps To Improve Sports In India

The eight-member Olympic Task Force, constituted to plan a roadmap to improve India's performance in the next three Olympics, emphasised on the need to be "athlete-centric, coach-led and system-driven". The task force, which include national badminton coach Pulella Gopichand, India's lone individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha, among others, submitted an extensive report to the Sports Secretary, Injeti Srinivas. In the report, the task force focused on a three-fold formula -- "athlete-centric, coach-led and system-driven". It addressed issues like upgradation in sports governance, sport science and culture of sports, among many others.

"Currently sports governance is at stake as relationship and coordination of various sports federations with all their concerned stakeholders need much more advancement for timely disbursement and dispensation of sports grants to nurture the sport talent," Om Pathak, a member of the task force, said at the 5th Global Sports Convention - 2017 today.

"Sports science is currently missing in sports syllabi, as a result the best of sportspersons in India are not uplifted beyond a certain threshold and therefore, the earlier the sports science is introduced to sports, the better would it be for ultimate evolution of all sports in the country," he added.

The task force urged sports authorities to visit the countryside and make all out attempts to spot talent in various primary schools and nurture them.

It focussed on inculcating physical wellness, ethical and moral values among the budding sportsperson so that they evolve into world-class personalities in the sporting arena.

The task force was set up under the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the end of last year's Rio Olympics, where India won just two medals despite sending its largest contingent ever.