India's 117-strong athlete contingent will produce the best efforts in keeping with their talent and will return from Paris with its best performance in an Olympic Games, the Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Mansukh Mandaviya told THE WEEK.
In the current Olympic cycle, the government has spent Rs 470 crore for the 16 disciplines, the sports minister said. The Centre helped them by arranging the best coaching and support staff, along with undertaking a number of other steps to empower them to showcase their best efforts in Paris.
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"Be it in sanctioning 890-plus international exposure [trips] or funding athletes to be stationed overseas for long spells, be it flying them to secure the best sports medicine and sports science support or be it in helping them work with reputed foreign coaches, the government has undertaken a number of steps to empower them to showcase their best efforts in Paris," Mansukh Mandaviya told THE WEEK.
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The government is making efforts to get more people to play sports by spreading physical literacy, the Minister said. This will create a wider pool of talent to draw from so that India marks its presence more tellingly on the global sports landscape, the optimistic minister said.
Read the full Mansukh Mandaviya interview exclusively in THE WEEK (Available on stands from July 26, 2024)
