India, being an ancient civilization, has a long history with sports. Wrestling, archery and chess, for instance, find mention a long way back in our history. The British introduced us to sports like cricket, field hockey and football. It is clear that cricket dominates the Indian mind space today, with IPL’s broadcast rights being sold at close to $6.2 Bn, on the back of a 500 mn viewership and advertising revenues for 2025 estimated at $ 600 mn. No other sport comes close to this in commercial scale. While cricket remains dominant, it is good to see that India is witnessing a shift from being a primarily cricket-focused nation to a more diverse sporting ecosystem, with athletes excelling in various disciplines like boxing, athletics, wrestling, archery, badminton and hockey. Our improved performance in international competitions and the emergence of exciting new talent in a broader range of sports is indeed heartening to see. With every success we see at the international level, more people emerge wanting to follow in the footsteps of these heroes and heroines. But the pay-off in most sports is challenging, resulting in young people either prioritizing academics or learning a vocation. It is heartening to see some CSR funds being directed to NGOs like GoSports Foundation, which I am proud to be associated, to develop sport. The Government too is doing its bit, having launched the Khelo India program and the TOPS scheme to develop and assist athletes from the grassroots to the elite levels.
While building success at the highest level in all sports must continue to be our aspiration, the fact is that sports and physical activity amongst the general population is often underestimated in terms of its impact on public health, societal benefits and economic growth. Such activity supports physical and mental health, with benefits that are well documented. What might be somewhat less intuitive is that when more of us are active, our society and nation benefit too. Our health costs and absenteeism decrease and our worker productivity and GDP increase.
A recent report titled the State of Sports and Physical Activity in India points to a nation that is not active enough, with all the concomitant risks. While one can always point to the limitations of any such study, the trend it is highlighting seems hard to argue with. According to the report, we fall woefully short of the WHO’s guideline for South Asians to have 232 minutes of activity per week. Women and girls are said to be less active and urban inactivity rates are higher. Less than 10% of adults were found to play a sport. Half of all boys who play a sport, play cricket. Schools and public playgrounds could be a key lever for increasing activity levels but there just aren’t enough of them.
So, even as we celebrate the sportsmen and sportswomen who bring laurels to the country, let us also look to build a nation that is more sporty and active. This would require much more awareness to be built, playgrounds in more schools, more public areas that the general population have access to ( what better example than Chandigarh, a model for other India cities) and more facilities at work places. This is our opportunity to make a sports crazy nation become healthier, happier and much more productive.
