“Bitter truth”: In order to increase medal totals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges India to participate in more Olympic sports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated a point he made in his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort on Thursday: India’s Olympic performance can only improve if it increases the number of sports it competes in, especially in areas where it has historically participated little or not at all. During a virtual conversation with athletes, students, and volunteers gathering at different locations for the Khelo India Dialogue, Modi delivered these statements. He made it clear that his goals for Indian sports go beyond simply winning more medals to include integrating sports into the process of creating the country.

“In the Olympics, there are so many different sports… Indian teams don’t even participate in half of them,” Modi said, calling it a “bitter truth”. India participated in 16 different sports at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The nation competed in 15 sports at the Rio Games in 2016, and it was represented in 16 sports in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“We don’t even compete for a huge chunk of the medal tally. And this has been going on for decades. Other countries of the world win medals in those sports, and we don’t even participate in them. To increase our medal tally, we will have to master these sports as well,” he added.

The topic was originally brought up by Modi on August 15, Independence Day, when he announced a national talent-identification campaign for kids between the ages of five and fifteen as part of a larger initiative to increase India’s participation in the Olympics. “On this 15th August, I have presented India’s sports vision for the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort. When I talk about sports… it is not merely about winning medals. “It is a campaign to integrate India’s sporting power and youth power together in the construction of a developed India,” he said.

The Prime Minister also emphasised the importance of the talent-identification program in creating a more comprehensive athletic environment, contending that children should be directed toward disciplines that best suit their skills rather than just the sport they happen to enjoy.

“I announced a big talent hunt to identify kids from 5 to 15 years of age. We do not need to look only at which sport a child is interested in, but also at which sport they are best suited for. We have to train them accordingly. “You will have the full support of the government in this. Our government is fully determined to build a modern sports ecosystem for the 21st century,” he said.

The comments are part of Modi’s broader vision for the 2036 Olympics, which India has formally expressed interest in hosting in Ahmedabad.

“We have decided that the 2036 Olympics should be held in India. But in 2036, in the disciplines in which India does not play today, in the disciplines in which India does not qualify, in the events that India has left aside, three-fourths of them are waiting for us. India will focus on them, and for this, we are also running a talent identification campaign,” Modi had said from the Red Fort.

“If we need athletes for 2036, then today, a talent hunt campaign will be conducted from village to village, city to city, school to school, to identify sporting talent. We have to focus on the children between the ages of five and fifteen, on our daughters. Their abilities will be assessed, and they will then receive specialised training to develop them into good athletes who can represent the country,” he had added.