Leading sportspersons, sports journalists, policymakers and other concerned stakeholders sit together at DD Sports Conclave 2017 to discover sports potential and elevate it to the level that India shines in the sports world
Abhishek Dubey
What will it take the country of over 125 corers, out of which more than 65 per cent are below 35 years of age, to be a premier sports nation? Why do we rate our sports only in terms of medals in Olympics, Asian or Commonwealth Games? What has to be done to reinvigorate the health of the sports at the grass roots level? Sports being a state subject, what are the emerging state models? What should be done to make sports an option of choice amongst the youngsters? Why are Indian Sports superstars emerging as reel heroes in Bollywood biopic and sports as the theme in our films?
The time for the transformative change has come. Doordarshan in a unique initiative, DD Sports Conclave 2017, brought together all concerned stakeholders on a single platform to find answer to these probing questions. The inaugural DD Sports Conclave, coinciding with the three years of NDA government in power, aptly titled- ‘Celebrating Sports in India’ engaged its viewers in the language of elemental positivity- intrinsic to the sports per se. Sports after all, are all about positivity, hope and celebration.
The Conclave was inaugurated by Union Minister for I&B M Venkaiah Naidu. The message of the Conclave was reinforced when the Minister answered queries from the budding and established wrestlers straight from Shastri Ghat in Varanasi. Traditionally, Varanasi was known for its ‘dangals & akhadas’ and efforts are in to
reinvigorate them as a statement of intent in bringing about changes at the grass roots level. “One needs to ensure that one takes time out of one’s schedule to play sports. I myself play badminton. It keeps you fitter, healthier and shapes your overall growth,” Shri Naidu said. More participation in sports was his clarion call.
This following session, attended by leading sports editors of national newspapers, took the discussion further. In the session titled ‘The Edit Page’ the session discussed varied models in the premier sporting nations of the world and what needs to be done to be amongst them. But as leading sports journalist and columnist Ayaz Memon puts it: “To excel in sports, we need to come up with our model, attuned with our own ground realties.” Medals may be by far the end result of the overall process, but the process has to begin with imbibing the sports culture in our country. ‘Khelo India’ campaign mounted by the Government of India is the first firm step in this direction.
Sports is the state subject as per the Constitution and the next session on the emerging state models was attended by the Ministers from geographically largest and the most populous states of the country i.e. Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh Sports Minister and famous cricketer of his time Chetan Chauhan said, “When I was going for the first cabinet meeting, my impression was that sports will get only the passing
reference. But our CM Shri Yogi Adityanath set the agenda in clear terms saying Chetanji, we are fortunate to have a person of experience and expertise amongst ourselves and we are fully with you, whatever steps you take for the development of sports in your state. Coming from your leader, this gives you confidence on yourself and the importance of sports in his overall vision. In the coming months, you will see number of initiatives in the field of sports in the state of Uttar Pradesh.” Madhya Pradesh Sports Minister Yashodara Raje Scindia said, “The state government has taken numerous steps to promote sports. In the field of women hockey, the results are evident. The government is promoting traditional sports like Malkhambh to imbibe the culture of sports amongst the youth.”
If inculcating the sports culture amongst the youth should be the basic infrastructure for the proposed vision of Indian sports, the centres of excellence should be its superstructure. The Conclave took the viewers to P Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, where the best in the business brainstormed on the territory chartered by the Academy and the road ahead for the Indian sports in terms of quality infrastructure. These included P Gopichand, PV Sidhu and Ashwini Ponappa. Apart from the P Gopichand Academy, TATA Archery Academy and TATA Football Academy in Jamshedpur, MC Mary Kom Boxing Academy in Imphal, PT Usha Athletics School in Kochi, Indian Military Academy for Sports in Pune and Baichung Bhutia Football Academy in Gangtok amongst others were visually showcased in the Conclave.
The marquee session of the Conclave, however, was ‘The Making of the Olympions’ attended by leading former and current Olympions of the country. Boxer Vijender Kumar, former hockey players Jagbir Singh and Sandeep Singh, former swimmer Khazan Singh, first women to win individual medal in the Olympics Karnam Malleswari and para Olympion Deepa Malik participated in the session. They were joined in from Guwahati by gymnast Dipa Karmakar and his coach Shri B Nandi and 2017 I League champion Aizawal amongst others. The session moderated by Olympian of repute herself, Ms Ashwini Ponappa discussed what it takes to be an Olympian. “If India has to grow as premier Olympics nation, North East has to be the engine of this growth story”- was the consensus, which emerged from Guwahati. These ‘real life heroes’ are increasingly emerging as the ‘reel life heroes’ was the theme of the following session from Guwahati. This session was attended by ace actor Manoj Vajpayee, Shreyas Talpade, directors Aseem Mishra and Tigmanshu Dhulia amongst others.
The members of the PM’s Task Force to oversee the preparation for the coming 3 Olympics participated in the session titled as ‘Vision Sports 2020 & 2024’ and touched upon the needs of all stakeholders working in close coordination to make India a sporting super power.
The Conclave concluded with participation of Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Col Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore. The 2004 Athens Olympics silver medalist shared with the viewers as to how the virtues acquired from sports helps an athlete to excel in the profession one chooses. He said dedication, focus and relentless hard work are the three essential traits of any sports person. This is true of life as well.
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