Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya on January 8 chaired the 152nd meeting of the Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) here at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in the presence of eminent sportspersons, administrators and coaches. The main agenda of the meeting was the introduction of members for the newly constituted MOC and planning for Los Angeles 2028 towards improving India’s medal tally at the Olympics.
Mandaviya emphasised employing a 360-degree approach to improve the Indian sports ecosystem with consolidated efforts from National Sports Federations (NSFs), State governments, Corporate houses, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).
“This is an important forum for me, many actions have already started as per ideas shared by all of you. Winning medals in the Olympics is not a one-year or 6 months job. It requires preparation well in advance. India’s sports infrastructure and funding is at par with the countries performing well at the Global stage. As you are aware, our Prime Minister is fully invested in the idea of making India a sports superpower. So, we have to hold each other’s hands and all stakeholders have to contribute to take the country forward,” Dr Mandaviya said during the two-hour meeting.
Olympic medallist Gagan Narang, Pullela Gopichand (Vice-president, Badminton Association of India), Viren Rasquinha (Olympic Gold Quest), Aparna Popat, Dronacharya awardee, para coach Dr Satyapal Singh, Arjuna awardee Prashanti Singh, Sports psychologist Gayatri Madkekar, Kamlesh Mehta (Secretary General, Table Tennis Federation of India), Cyrus Poncha (Secretary General, Squash Rackets Federation of India), Deepthi Bopaiah (GoSports Foundation), Siddharth Shanker (Reliance Foundation), Manisha Malhotra (JSW Sports), Gautam Vadehra (Joint Secretary, Petroleum Sports Promotion Board) and Prem Lochab (Railway Sports Promotion Board) attended the meeting along with officials from the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Secretary (Sports), Sujata Chaturvedi, welcomed the newly-constituted MOC members followed by a brief introduction of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme and the objective of the meeting by newly-appointed CEO Nachhatar Singh Johal.
The key points discussed during the meeting were the formulation of robust talent identification criteria of Development Group for Brisbane 2032; developing short/medium/long term targets for athletes included in TOPS, monitoring preparedness and actual performance vis-à-vis short/medium/long term targets, approval of budgetary requirements for customized training of individuals and teams, and identifying and availing services of High-Performance Experts to meet the training needs of athletes.
