Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for a broader approach to India’s Olympic ambitions, saying the country needs to participate in more sporting disciplines if it wants to significantly improve its medal tally.
Speaking virtually to athletes, students and volunteers during the Khelo India Dialogue, Modi reiterated a point from his Independence Day address that India’s Olympic presence remains limited compared with the number of disciplines on the Games programme.
“In the Olympics, there are so many different sports… Indian teams don’t even participate in half of them,” Modi said, describing the situation as a “bitter truth”.
He noted that India competed in 16 sports at both the Paris Olympics in 2024 and the Tokyo Games in 2021, while its participation stood at 15 sports at Rio 2016.
According to Modi, the limited participation means India is effectively competing for only a portion of the medals available at the Olympics.
“We don’t even compete for a huge chunk of the medal tally,” he said, stressing that India must develop expertise in sports where it has traditionally had little or no representation.
Focus on untapped Olympic disciplines
Modi said increasing India’s medal tally will require the country to look beyond disciplines in which Indian athletes are already established.
“To increase our medal tally, we will have to master these sports as well,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s comments underline the government’s broader push to create a more diversified sporting ecosystem, rather than relying on a handful of disciplines for Olympic success.
He said the country’s sporting strategy should also extend beyond medals and focus on making sports an important part of nation-building.
Talent hunt for children aged 5 to 15
A major part of the government’s proposed strategy is early identification of sporting talent.
Modi had announced a nationwide talent-identification campaign during his Independence Day speech on August 15. The initiative is aimed at identifying children between five and 15 years of age and assessing their abilities to determine which sporting disciplines may suit them best.
“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,” Modi said.
He added that children identified through the programme would receive specialised training, with the government providing support to develop their abilities.
The proposed approach could help widen India’s talent pool by directing young athletes towards disciplines based on their physical and sporting abilities, rather than limiting them to sports they initially prefer.
2036 Olympics ambition
The push to expand India’s Olympic footprint comes against the backdrop of the country’s ambition to host the 2036 Olympics in Ahmedabad.
Modi has repeatedly linked the proposed hosting bid with the need to prepare a new generation of athletes well in advance.
“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,” he had said in his Independence Day address.
He specifically highlighted the need to identify young athletes, including girls, and provide them with specialised training so that they can potentially represent India at the international level.
The Prime Minister’s latest remarks therefore place the emphasis on building depth across Olympic sports over the next decade.
For India to translate its growing sporting ambitions into a larger medal haul, the challenge will be to identify promising talent early, expand participation across disciplines and provide athletes with sustained access to high-quality coaching, infrastructure and competition.
