Football: Indian head coaches who brought home honours
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India.com
2 minutes ago
- India.com
Kho Kho World Cup Winners To Join PM Narendra Modi In Independence Day Celebrations At Red Fort
In a historic first for the indigenous sport, players from the Indian men's and women's Kho Kho World Cup-winning teams are set to join the 79th Independence Day celebrations at the iconic Red Fort on August 15. Notably, this year's Independence Day celebration will host around 5,000 special guests from diverse fields, including sportspersons, innovators, and community leaders. In order to celebrate the burgeoning growth of an indigenous sport, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited 30 of India's best Kho Kho players, who won the maiden World Cup in January 2025 in New Delhi. The first-ever Kho Kho World Cup, which was held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium from January 13 to 19, saw participation from 39 teams (20 men's and 19 women's) representing 23 countries across six continents. The inclusion of Kho Kho at such a significant national gathering also highlights how the government is elevating indigenous games. Earlier, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also advocated for Kho Kho's inclusion in the Asian Games and the 2036 Olympics, calling it a "collective effort" involving players, federations, and the Sports Ministry to boost its international footprint. The celebration also aligns with India's 2036 Olympic bid and the pitch to return Kho Kho to the Games, exactly a century after its 1936 Berlin demonstration appearance. "Being invited to the Red Fort for Independence Day is one of the proudest moments of my life. Winning the World Cup earlier this year was historic for us, but this honour from the nation shows that Kho Kho is finally getting the recognition it deserves," said Pratik Waikar, a member of the World Cup-winning team. "It is a great promotion for the indigenous sport of Kho Kho. I have only seen Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations on television, and this is the first time I will attend them with my teammates. It's a great feeling," said Nirmala Bhati, a member of the World Cup-winning women's team. Congratulating the athletes, the Chairman of Administration & Organisation, Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI), said, "When our players stand in honour of the National Anthem at the Red Fort, it will be a moment of pride for the entire Kho Kho fraternity. We are grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya for recognising and honouring the 'Jaabaaz' players of Bharatiya Khel." This milestone invitation stands as a symbolic recognition of Kho Kho's growing stature in the country's sporting landscape, reinforcing the government's commitment to promoting India's indigenous sports on national and global platforms. Notably, fifteen of these 30 players will be part of the player draft of the new season of Ultimate Kho Kho (UKK), beginning November 29.
Deccan Herald
2 minutes ago
- Deccan Herald
‘Saint' of Indian hockey wore multiple hats
A true legend of Indian sport, Vece, born in Goa in April 1945, was the bronze medallist at the 1971 World Cup and the 1972 Olympics. Interestingly, the midfielder was studying for his MBBS while he won the two major accolades.
The Hindu
2 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Struggling to make it to the big league in sports
Most sporting legends and highly rated coaches who visit India for professional stints or promotional activities invariably say that 'India is a sleeping giant'. The underlying assumption is that the nation's world-leading population of 1.46 billion — with a significant portion of that young — gives it a unique advantage to churn out sports stars like goods produced in an assembly line. The reality, however, is that this is true only in cricket and chess, and to an extent in shooting. India is a giant of the 'gentlemen's game' and also the sport's financial nerve-centre. In chess, it has as many as 88 Grandmasters, is the current chess Olympiad winner and has in its ranks the reigning World Champion in D. Gukesh. Shooting accounts for seven of India's 41 Olympic medals, and one of two individual golds. There are indeed glorious exceptions in other sports. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra bagged the gold at Tokyo 2020 Olympics and added a silver in Paris last year. Badminton player P.V. Sindhu is a double Olympic medallist from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. The Indian men's hockey team overcame years of under-performance to earn a bronze each in Tokyo and Paris. But with the medal count at each Olympics still in single digits, India is far from being a sporting nation. The reasons are plenty. The National Sports Federations reek of bad governance, with many intra-association battles reaching the doorsteps of the highest courts of the land. Inadequate coaching, limited sports infrastructure and funding, and non-uniform access to cutting-edge sports science and nutrition have also contributed. An epidemic of doping has gripped Indian sport, causing much embarrassment, even as safe spaces for women to compete are still insufficient. But one prime reason experts point out is the less-than-ideal grassroots-level participation and the lack of an enabling atmosphere to nurture those who take up sport from a young age. The absence of a clear pathway, right from the beginner level all the way up to the professional, has ended up dissuading parents from looking at sport as a viable career option. This stress is currently being felt in tennis and football, two of the biggest global disciplines. No Indian is ranked in the top-200 in singles tennis among men or women, and such is the state of football that the conduct of the country's top flight, the Indian Super League, is in limbo and the National team — which has never qualified for the World Cup — is outside the top-100 in FIFA world rankings. What can India learn from successful sporting countries? One is to integrate sports and education, a feature that is being discussed seriously in India only now. In the United States of America, college sports are a big draw and there are scholarship opportunities aplenty. In fact, the growth of chess in India is a good example of a school-driven policy working wonders. 'I was really lucky that my dad had the foresight to realise that in the U.S. sports can actually open doors,' Rajeev Ram, four-time Grand Slam doubles champion from the United States and former World No. 1, told The Hindu. 'Even if you're not very good or professional, he always said that tennis is actually going to improve my educational opportunities. I would have never gotten the chances to go to the colleges that I did if I wasn't a tennis player,' the 41-year-old two-time Olympic silver medallist added. Yet, it is not all doom and gloom. There are models worth emulating within India, like that of badminton, where a solid junior structure, high-quality coaching and consistent exposure to big-ticket events has propelled the sport. In the recent past, there has been a push to streamline and professionalise the sporting ecosystem. The setting up of a task force, with Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra as chairman, to design a framework to improve governance, and the introduction of the National Sports Governance Bill — which has its detractors — are moves by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to this end. There is hope that Khelo India, a school- and college-level initiative, and the increase in sports funding by private bodies through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) route will help bring about wholesale changes. India also seems to think that hosting the 2036 Olympics can usher in a revolution. The experience of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi was mixed and there are many who believe that the potential ₹64,000 crore outlay is too high a price for a developing country. India, nevertheless, has chosen to dream. And actions should now back it.
