From India’s Olympic ambition as a potential host to sports goods manufacturing in the country, the Sportstar Sports Conclave Focus Bihar at the Taj City Centre here on Sunday dealt with a wide range of issues.

“Kids today are taking up skating, sport climbing, football, and all the other new sports. But traditional sports continue to get a lot of focus and attention. We need to build a balance and see if the sports will be played over a period of time for the money being put in,” Deepthi Bopaiah, Board Member at GoSports Foundation, said during a discussion titled, The Host Nation Effect: Why Olympic hosts outperform and can India do it too.

Joydeep Karmakar, Commonwealth Games gold medallist, acknowledged India’s rapid strides in sports, but demanded focus on the rate of improvement.

“There is a chance of a 25 to 50% increase in medals as a host. Even if we go by a 25-50% rise, India will still win only 17 to 18 medals. There is no doubt that India is progressing, but everybody else also is,” Joydeep said.

While a successful Olympic bid could galvanise India’s sports manufacturing industry, there are several challenges still to be overcome.

Lakshita Mehrotra, Senior Team Lead at Foundation for Economic Development, highlighted these challenges, including cost disadvantages and a lack of visibility for Indian brands.

Talking point: Girish Venkatasubban, Shiv Prakash Singh and Lakshita Mehrotra engaged in a lively discussion.
| Photo Credit:
R.V. MOORTHY

India accounts for just about 0.5% of the overall global trade in sports equipment. The key to increasing India’s export footprint lies in expanding the domestic market, according to Shiv Prakash Singh, Founder at Shiv Naresh Sports.

Last-mile connectivity

“As an MSME, last-mile connectivity is a major issue. If you cannot sell a product in India, you cannot sell it anywhere else,” Girish Venkatasubban, CEO at Imaxx Sports, added.

AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey presented the federation perspective, underlining the gap between expectation and reality in the ecosystem.

Taking note: Pramod Kumar and Kalyan Chaubey during the conversation.
| Photo Credit:
R.V. MOORTHY

“Progress has no limit. But people always pick out faults. When you govern, you have to assume that you cannot deliver all things correctly… we try to give all the facilities that we wished we had as players. In a country of 150 crore population, we cannot expect an overnight change.”

The Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave is presented by the Bihar Sports Authority and Department of Sports, Government of Bihar.

The associate sponsor is Indian Oil Corporation Limited, and State Bank of India is the banking partner.