On Sunday, as Bhaker became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting and opened the country’s tally at the Paris Olympics, her case showed why India has big hopes from the present contingent of 117 athletes in Paris.
Khelo India, the natural sporting talent from Haryana among other states, and the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) that has underlined athlete-centric decision making are reasons India is confident of its best-ever showing in Olympics this time, with Bhaker’s medal a start.
There is a success model here. Sample this: 25 per cent of the Indian contingent (28 athletes), at the Paris Summer Olympics 2024, are ‘Khelo India’ athletes; 12 of them belong to Haryana. The state itself has the biggest contribution of 24 athletes to the Indian Olympic contingent this time. Last year, at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, as many as 124 athletes part of the Indian contingent were ‘Khelo India’ athletes and had contributed by winning 42 medals out of total 106.
It was the Narendra Modi government that started the ‘Khelo India’ initiative in 2018. The idea was to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-roots level and ‘Khelo India’ School Games were started in 2018 where under-17 athletes were invited to participate across 16 disciplines. Bhaker was among them who started her journey from these ‘Khelo India’ school games.
“I won gold in those games with a national record and came into TOPS core group. This platform gave me and many others a direction,” Bhaker had told the PM three weeks ago.
Talented players identified in priority sports disciplines are provided annual financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh per annum for eight years. “The problems of sportspersons get solved with this platform,” Bhaker said.
Two-Year Preparation in Advance
TOPS, along with the detailed weekly performance reviews of the medal-prospect athletes by government’s Mission Olympic Cell, has been key too. The idea for Paris Olympics has been that of holistic preparation, with the government opting for camp identification for the best-suited foreign pre-game training two years prior to the Paris Games. Many Indian medal prospects like Neeraj Chopra have trained abroad.
The government also ensured additional sports funding through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) route as well as upgraded facilities in India in diet, equipment and field of play, as per international standards.
The main change, however, has been ‘athlete-centric decision making’, coupled with ‘data-driven decision-making’, top officials in the government say. This is what is giving India confidence of a record medal haul this time.
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