 "India is keen on becoming the 21st country to host the Summer Olympics in 2036, hoping to host the world's biggest multi-sporting event in Ahmedabad. Reuters")
India celebrates 78 years of independence from Britain on Friday, and the nation certainly has come a long way over nearly eight decades – from advancements in healthcare and education to industrialisation and defence and many other sectors.
From a nation that could barely afford to feed its own population after being ravaged by nearly two centuries of colonial rule to becoming the fourth-largest economy in the world and a country that proudly counts itself among the major players in space exploration, independent India has made quite the progress over the years.
Tracking India’s progress as a sporting nation
As for its growth as a sporting nation, India has had its share of ups and downs over the years, but it remains largely on the positive side.
The country had extended its domination of field hockey beyond independence right till the 1960s and 1970s, and has recently undergone a revival in the form of back-to-back Olympic medals. Cricket had occupied the No. 2 spot in the Indian sport hierarchy for a while until the historic 1983 World Cup changed the landscape forever and it has not looked back since. It has, after all, come to a point where India virtually runs the sport these days.
Beyond hockey and cricket, India has made significant progress in sports such as wrestling, shooting, badminton, boxing and even athletics – thanks primarily to javelin star Neeraj Chopra, a two-time Olympic medallist .
There was, after all, a time when India would struggle to win more than one medal at the Olympics, one of them usually being guaranteed by the men’s field hockey team. And just last year, India’s six-medal haul at the Paris Olympics was considered a let-down, given the number of fourth-place finishes.
And it’s not just the men – the women are making the nation proud as well. From Manu Bhaker making history in the Paris Games to the Blue Tigresses’ historic qualification for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup , coming at a time when Indian football finds itself at one of its lowest points.
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Indian sport, however, finds itself at a crucial juncture in the year 2025. Having made progress across a variety of individual and team sports in recent years, India now dreams of taking things to the next level in the coming years.
The Narendra Modi-led government, after all, has submitted bids for two major upcoming events – the 2030 Commonwealth Games as well as the 2036 Olympics , with Ahmedabad being touted as the venue for both events.
The country had previously hosted three major multi-sporting events – the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982 and the Commonwealth Games in 2010, with New Delhi serving as the host on each occasion. From hosting these events at gaps of approximately three decades, the nation intends to send a bold message by bidding for two major events in a space of six years.
And if successful in its bidding and in execution of its plans, it could mark the beginning of a transformation much like that of Saudi Arabia, which was nowhere in the sporting landscape at the start of the century but now finds itself hosting some of the biggest events in football, Formula 1, golf, and boxing, among others.
“We are pushing for hosting rights of 2036 Olympics, it will take Indian sports to new heights. Olympics is not just a sporting event. Wherever Olympics happen, all sectors gain. It creates better facilities for athletes. It spurs construction, creates new connectivity, transport facilities and, most important of all, boosts tourism,” PM Modi had said during the opening ceremony of the 38th National Games earlier this year.
And laying the groundwork for those ambitious plans is the National Sports Governance Bill 2025, which cleared both houses of the parliament earlier this week and aims to bring about a total revamp in sports administration and the general sporting culture in this country.
Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, after all, labelled the NSG Bill, which was passed along with the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill and aims to set up a National Sports Board and a National Sports Tribunal , among other changes, as “the single biggest reform in sports since independence”.
Grassroots should not be ignored while aiming for the sky
Hosting either of the CWG or the Olympics is certainly not going to be cheap for the government, forget hosting both in less than a decade. India’s proposed budget for the 2036 Olympics reportedly stands at an upper limit of $7.5 billion (approximately Rs 65,000 crore), which is more than the budget for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics ($6.9 billion).
That’s more than seven times the final expenditure for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. And the nature of hosting such events is that breaking even and eventually making a profit from the games through ticket sales and other sources of revenue isn’t a guarantee for the hosts. Thus, for some nations, hosting the Olympics could be the equivalent of a big, fat Indian wedding.
And it is in this context that one must keep in mind the fact that India’s growth across a wide variety of sports has been spearheaded by grassroots development, spearheaded by the Khelo India programme that was first launched in 2017-18.
Other programmes by the government, such as the Target Olympic Podium Scheme, introduced in 2014, have helped young talent identified by Khelo India into world-class athletes capable of achieving a podium finish in the Olympics.
Hosting the Olympics certainly will bring about a transformation like never before, as far as Indian sport is concerned. But for a country that is yet to hit the double-digit mark in the Olympics, aiming to build a skyscraper cannot come at the cost of a strong foundation.
A Bombay Bong with an identity crisis. Passionately follow cricket. Hardcore fan of Team India, the Proteas and junk food. Self-proclaimed shutterbug.