Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the recent Olympic Games and hailed the girl power as he referred to medal winners — shuttler P V Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi. He also hailed gymnast Dipa Karmakar, who missed a medal by a narrow margin.
He said Indian participants in other events like hockey, shooting and boxing also performed well. “But my countrymen, we need to do a lot more. But if we continue doing what we have been doing, then perhaps we will again be disappointed,” he said while mentioning about thousands of messages to him from people who wanted him to speak on the subject of sports in view of poor performance in Rio Olympics as they were badly disappointed.
In this context, he referred to his recent announcement to form a Task Force under which the government will “go deep” into the subject, study the best practices in the world and prepare a roadmap for the next three Olympic Games in 2020, 2024 and 2028. “We have to formulate a long-term programme,” he said.
The Prime Minister asked state governments also to form such committees to see what could be done to improve performances in sports. He said states can also send their suggestions to the Centre in this regard.
He said associations linked to sports should also do brain-storming in an unbiased manner. Modi invited even individual citizens, with interest in sports, to write to him or the government.
“We should do all preparations and I am confident that the country of 125 crore people, 65 per cent of them youth, will move ahead with this resolve,” he said.
