NEW DELHI: Mr. Shekhar Dutt, Governor of Chattisgarh, today urged Indian industry to invest in the business of sports by providing coaching and creating sports infrastructure in the country. The encouragement to and promotion of sports, he said, would generate increased demand for sports goods and equipment and benefit industries and businesses dealing in such products.
Addressing FICCI’s 3rd Global Sports Summit ‘TURF 2011’: International Convention on the
Business of Sport, Mr. Dutt said, “Sports plays an important role in personality development. It teaches a person the value of hard work, proper training, to be a part of a team and also to be a team leader. These qualities coupled with education are required to be successful in any field.
Therefore, in all the educational institutions, right from primary to college or University, proper infrastructure, equipments and coaching facilities must be provided to promote and develop the talents.”
Mr. Dutt underscored the need to prioritise physical education and sports by the Central and
State Governments, keeping in mind the vast human resources and the external and internal
threats and challenges faced by the country.
Since sports was a state subject, it was imperative for industry and states to work under
together for sports development at all levels. This would include policy, governance reforms,
industry interface, creation and management state-of-the-art infrastructure, centres of
excellence in coaching, athlete training and development and technique management, he
observed.
A sport, he said, was an organized activity. There is an urgent need to infuse the corporate spirit into the development of human resources through sports. It, therefore, has to have the right ingredients – talent search, coaches, infrastructure and competitive spirit – all of which require meticulous planning as in the corporate world.
Mr Dutt said that although there are three national institutions in the field of physical
education and sports in the country — Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, Patiala
(NSNIS), Patiala; Lakshmibai National University of Physical Education (LNUPE), Gwalior and Lakshmibai National College for Physical Education (LNCPE), Trivandrum – none of them has progressed to becoming institutes of global eminence. “All these three institutes need to be modernized on the lines of leading global sports academies in physical education and sports institutes.” In this context, he said that Chhattisgarh, the ninth largest state deserves a national institute which will further generate interest of youth in sports.
FICCI, he said, has taken up the agenda to actively pursue sports development and business of
sports in India. He urged the chamber to work with the Chhattisgarh Government in the
development of sports in the state. “In this endeavour we would like to develop a long-term
relationship with industry,” he added.
On the occasion, the Chattisgarh Governor, released five sets of knowledge papers – FICCI-Yes
Bank Report on Development and Management of Sports Infrastructure; FICCI-Winning Matters Report on Sports Performance of Indian States; FICCI-Tanjum Associates Report on Sports as a Full-time Career; FICCI-Lakshmikumaran Sreedharan Attorneys Report on Strengthening Sports Federations and FICCI-Sport18: Dynamics of League System in Sports.
Ms. Lata Usendi, Minister of State for Women & Child Development, Sports & Youth Affairs,
Chattisgarh, in her address, stated that the State Government was actively collaborating with the corporate sector for the development of sports. “We are also linking sports federations
with industry representation so that the corporate spirit of excellence flows into sports
management.”
Brigadier K P Singh Deo, Chairman, Sports Development Commission, Indian Olympic
Association, called for broadbasing sports education by making it compulsory in school
curricula. The need of the hour, he said, was to bring the sportsperson centrestage through
disciplined sports management, security and insurance for sportspersons.
The inaugural session of the summit was also addressed by Mr. Prasana Krishnan, Chairperson, FICCI Sports Committee and COO Neo Sports and Dr. Rajiv Kimar, Secretary General, FICCI.
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