Have target to cross double-digit medal tally in 2024 Olympics, says Kiren Rijiju
Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju has mentioned that he has a target of taking India to double-digit medal tally in the 2024 Olympics which is scheduled to be played in Paris. The minister has also said that the government is taking steps to introduce sports in schools and CBSE is working on that.
India has not been a great sporting nation when it comes to the Olympics. The Indian contingent had managed to clinch only two medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016. However, union sports minister Kiren Rijiju is hopeful that India will do well in the 2024 Paris Olympics and will manage to get more than 10 medals in the sporting extravaganza.
“We are too late for Tokyo Olympics but still have some time left for Paris and Los Angeles to prepare. We have set a target to cross double-digit medal tally in 2024 Paris Olympics and become one of the top-ten medal-winning nations in 2028 Los Angeles Games,” Rijiju said during an event in Chennai, reported TOI.
"It’s not an easy task but it’s also not impossible if you are serious about it.”
The minister further explained his plans for the sportspersons and said that champions cannot be produced overnight. He also went on to add more details on the Olympic Task Force constituted by the Prime Minister of India. We are a country of 1.3 billion population but have won just two medals at Rio Olympics. It presented a new challenge to me and I set a target for myself once I took charge.
"You cannot produce champions overnight. It takes a lot of planning and a methodical approach to set up a team of world-beating athletes. You have to catch them young and train them properly for the future events. The Prime Minister has constituted a body called Olympic Task Force and I’ve been working on the project ever since I became the minister and set up short-term and long-term goals for us," the union minister added.
Stressing on the importance of making sports compulsory in the school curriculum, the minister highlighted the success of the Khelo India Games. The sports ministry is keen on introducing sports in the school curriculum and Rijiju informed that the CBSE has been working on that.
“The central government took the decision to include sports in school curriculum. The CBSE has been working on it for some time and it will soon be included in education. A student’s overall performance will depend on how he/she fares in sports. There will be proper marking on their sporting activities. It’ll not be an extra-curricular activity anymore. We cannot build sporting culture without developing it at the grass-root level and school is an integral part of it,” mentioned Rijiju.
