What National Sports Policy can do for India's athletes
For the first time in our nation's sporting journey, we are embedding science, technology, and evidence-based medicine at the heart of athlete development. From injury prevention and biomechanics to mental conditioning and recovery, the policy envisions a system where performance is supported, not just expected.
India has made great strides in global sports. But to compete consistently at the highest level, performance needs to be sustained by systems that are smart, adaptable, and medically sound. The National Sports Policy 2025 acknowledges this and integrates sports science, sports medicine, and cutting-edge technology as foundational pillars for the next decade of Indian sports.
It gives me immense satisfaction as a medical practitioner to note that the new policy focuses on: Injury surveillance, prevention, and early intervention, which remain essential for athlete longevity; biomechanics and performance analytics to refine training and technique; nutrition and recovery science — areas where marginal gains often make the difference between podium finishes and missed opportunities; and mental health and cognitive conditioning, which, in today's high-pressure environment, are non-negotiable.
The policy outlines that facilities for sports science and sports medicine will be established and upgraded at major training centres across the country. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has already begun enhancing sports science facilities and installing world-class recovery equipment at its regional centres and National Centres of Excellence, in partnership with the National Centre for Sports Science & Research.
The SAI regional centre in Bengaluru, where our Olympic medal prospects under the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) train, has got one of the best sports science facilities in the entire country. Another Return to Sports division was recently established at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi. These are multi-disciplinary hubs where coaches, physiotherapists, psychologists, orthopaedic surgeons and data scientists work together to support athletes.
In a significant step, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had constituted a 10-member medical panel in association with the Indian Olympic Association last year, including myself, to be stationed in Paris during the Olympic Games. For the first time, India had a dedicated medical team on-ground to manage injuries, monitor recovery, and make real-time decisions for our athletes' health and safety.
The policy also rightly champions technology as a tool for governance and performance monitoring. Platforms will be upgraded and restructured to improve the transparency and efficiency of various schemes. From AI-driven performance analysis to real-time dashboards, monitoring training loads and recovery metrics, technology will be harnessed not just to track, but to intervene early, predict outcomes, and course-correct when necessary.
What excites me even more is that we are not stopping at application — we are fostering sports innovation by leveraging technology for data-driven monitoring and implementation of sports programmes. With the proposed sports innovation task force and research grants, educational and research institutions will be encouraged to explore interdisciplinary solutions, creating a pipeline of ideas, tools, and technologies that are India-specific.
In a nutshell, the National Sports Policy 2025 is not just forward-thinking — it is vital. By embedding sports science and technology into the fabric of our sporting ecosystem, we are moving toward certainty — from passion alone to passion empowered by precision.
As someone who has treated hundreds of India's top athletes, I know that talent and training are never enough. Support, science, and systems are what create champions. With this policy, we are finally building those systems.
The writer is a sports orthopaedic surgeon. He was head of a medical panel constituted by the sports ministry to support Indian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Divya Deshmukh, 19, beats Koneru Humpy to become Women's World Cup champion and India's 4th woman to be grandmaster
After 24 days of fighting chess, Divya Deshmukh became the FIDE Women's World Cup champion at Georgia's Batumi after defeating the veteran Koneru Humpy in the final via the tiebreaks. Divya's win also makes her eligible to be India's fourth woman to become a grandmaster. This was a battle of generations, with the 19-year-old Divya being half the age of the veteran Humpy, who is India's first woman to become a grandmaster. Since Humpy became a GM, just two women have followed suit and become grandmasters. Thanks to the win today, Divya joins that elusive list. On Monday, after the first game ended in a draw, Divya won the second tiebreak game thanks to a blunder from Humpy. The first two classical games between Humpy and Divya had ended in draws. The first game, which was played on Saturday, was where Divya had the best chances to win, while playing with white pieces. She came with a plan and got a sizeable advantage on the board. But then at the end, she scuffed her lines and allowed Humpy to equalise. Divya had said that that draw had 'felt like a loss' to her. 'I had seen everything (beforehand). So I was disappointed by that,' she said. Humpy too had agreed that Divya was 'clearly better' after 12 moves. 'After that move, I'm not sure what was going on, but it was very complicated,' Humpy admitted. In the second game, the game was ambling along to a draw from the start itself. But Divya said that she had wandered 'into trouble for no apparent reason.' Divya, who is an International Master, was the underdog coming into the tiebreaks, because the games were played in the rapid format and Humpy became the World Rapid Champion for the second time in her career in December last year. Humpy is also currently ranked no 5 in the world in the FIDE ratings list for women while Divya is world no 18 (which makes her the fourth ranked Indian on the list). In other formats too, Humpy is ranked much higher than the teenager from Nagpur: In rapid, Humpy is no 10 in the world while Divya is no 22. In blitz, while the veteran is no 10 in the world among women, Divya is no 18. Just like Divya, Humpy was also a prodigy back in the day. In fact, Humpy was once the youngest woman to achieve the grandmaster title, when she beat Judit Polgar's record by three months to reach there at the age of 15 years, one month and 27 days. Reaching the FIDE Women's World Cup final is a significant achievement for Divya. It was just last year that she was crowned the world junior champion in the girls section. In the 13 months since, she is already fighting for the second-most prestigious title in women's chess. Divya was also the inspiration behind the Indian women's team winning a gold medal at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest last year where she claimed an individual gold as well for her board.
The Hindu
23 minutes ago
- The Hindu
IND vs ENG fifth Test: Shardul, Kamboj likely to be benched as India searches for ‘Perfect 11'
The long-winding five-match Test series in England has hit the home stretch but despite securing a memorable draw at Old Trafford, India continue to search for the "perfect" eleven, more specifically the right bowling combination, heading into the finale at The Oval in three days' time. India's preference to bat till number eight at the expense of a specialist bowler has been constantly questioned over the course of the series and more so after Shardul Thakur, playing in place of the injured Nitish Reddy, was used for only 11 overs at Old Trafford. But with India conceding more than 600 runs for the first time since 2014 at Old Trafford, the case for including an out and out wicket-taker like Kuldeep Yadav, who has been warming the bench for the past 40 days, is stronger than ever. After an underwhelming debut, Anshul Kamboj is likely to make way for a fit-again Akash Deep or Prasidh Krishna. Arshdeep Singh, who too has been a passenger like Kuldeep, has also recovered from a hand injury and would be dreaming of a Test debut in what has been a highly competitive and engaging series. Though head coach Gautam Gambhir declared all the fast bowlers fit in his usual combative tone following the draw on Sunday, there is no denying that the pace pack, especially Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, are part of the tiring bunch on either side of the dressing room. Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, the architects of a famous draw, formed India's top six in the second innings due to Rishabh Pant's injury and showed remarkable grit to bat out more than two sessions to save the game, completing fine hundreds in the process. If that same template is followed at The Oval, Dhruv Jurel will come in to bat number seven and India can play four specialist bowlers by benching Shardul, who anyway has not been getting enough overs. The fourth bowler can be Kuldeep with the pitch expected to aid spinners or an extra fast bowler. By its own admission, the Indian team management has been consciously trying to fit Kuldeep into the playing eleven but the current template of batting till eight has prevented it from doing that. "So Kuldeep, we are trying to find a way for him, but it is just (that we need) more consistent runs from our top six, so that we can bring a guy like Kuldeep in," said India bowling coach Morne Morkel during the fourth Test. "It's finding when he comes in, how we can find balance and how we can get that batting line-up to be a little bit longer and stronger. We've seen in the past that we've lost wickets in clumps. "Kuldeep is world-class and he's bowling really well at the moment, so we're trying our best to find ways for him to get in," added the South African. Recently-retired Test great R. Ashwin can't understand India's obsession of batting till eight for a few extra runs when a strike bowler like Kuldeep can allow them to play with fewer runs. For him, picking Kuldeep in Manchester was a no brainer. Considering the selection calls thus far, it can be said that India have been pretty firm about having a cushion with the bat in the lower-order. That will need to change if Kuldeep has to come into the scheme of things. Bumrah has already played three Tests but with series on the line, he could turn up at The Oval and someone like Mohammed Siraj, the only Indian pacer to have featured in all the games, would be raising his hand up despite the heavy workload. "On these do not know whether you will lose the toss, you will win the toss. You do not know what sort of a start you are going to get. So when you pick a team, I think you will try and pick a balanced team," said India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak recently when asked about playing an extra bowler over an all-rounder. "You cannot go like 'because last game three guys got 100s, we can play a batter less'. "...sometimes we feel that six bowlers are not getting enough bowling. So when you have six options, anyway captain struggles to bowl all six equally. Picking an 11, you will always try and keep that balance of batting and bowling," he reasoned for India's existing selection approach.
Indian Express
23 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘I have rest of my life to be sad about it, important to move on': Divya Deshmukh after FIDE Women's World Cup final heads to tiebreaks
Young Indian teenage sensation Divya Deshmukh took the FIDE Women's World Cup 2025 final clash against compatriot Koneru Humpy into the tiebreaks after playing two draws in both the Classical games. The first game, where Divya had white pieces, was a topsy-turvy game where the 19-year-old from Nagpur created a lot of chances for herself but failed to close in the game, resulting in a draw. Divya said she was disappointed with her game but did not let the game bother her for long. 'I was quite disappointed with the first game, obviously, because I saw everything and I just always ended up making the wrong choice, and it was quite a pity. The first game did not go my way, and even though it was a draw, it kind of felt like a loss. So I was just trying to recover, and today was considerably easier. I think I got myself into a mess for no reason. It should have been an easy draw. I got into trouble for no reason,' said Divya to FIDE's official broadcaster after the final headed towards a tiebreak. Why was 🇮🇳 Divya Deshmukh smiling? @DivyaDeshmukh05 🎙️ Follow LIVE broadcast: — International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) July 26, 2025 On being asked whether she was able to move on from a draw that could have gone her way in the first leg, she said, 'It's absolutely necessary to do that (move on), otherwise you're not going to perform well in the next game. I just tell myself that I have the rest of my life to be sad about it. So just don't be sad today, and then we can be sad about it afterwards.' Divya called Humpy a really strong player but she vowed to give her best in the tiebreaks which will be played in the shorter time controls. 'I'm going to give my best. She's, of course, a really strong player, but I'm hoping things go my way.' The teenager was seen smiling during the first leg and when asked about the instance, she said: 'I was getting spammed on my phone after the game because everybody was like, 'Why is she smiling?' I got so annoyed… I deleted all the apps. I didn't realise, first of all, that I was smiling. I think it must have been some inner joke that I thought of, I think I was just so into calculations, and at that point I was honestly a bit frustrated because I saw queen E2, and my problem was bishop C6. I saw queen C4 and I thought of queen D7 here, but I didn't realise D5, and I mis-evaluated it.'
