SCORECARD 2015 brings together Olympic medalists for televised dicussion
World championships in Badminton, Archery, Billiards and Kabaddi, numerous medals in Asian & Commonwealth Games emphasize on how good we really have been. One stinging area of concern for us though is our show or rather the lack of it when it comes to the grandest stage of them all- the Olympic Games. A cumulative of 23 medals, which include 11 from Hockey alone doesn’t quite do justice to the massive potential that our country possesses.
In a proposed session thus, here at SCORECARD 2015, a national conference on sports on September 1, elite panelists would engage with Rahul Kanwal in a televised discussion about how to bridge the gap between us and Olympic medalists.
To win more medals at the Olympics, we need to generate interest in sports, improve infrastructure, encourage sports entrepreneurs and promote better funding schemes with nutrition for athletes as well as introduce all-purpose sports complexes and enhance the role of India Inc in sports. It is time to build a proper sporting culture.
The need of the hour is to reimagine Indian sports with engagement of the Indian populace, securing the future of our athletes and providing them support and respect, encouraging women in sport, adopting international standards of sportsmanship and transforming Indian sport into a formidable force: faster, higher, and stronger to win more laurels for the country.
Featuring India’s two silver medalists from the London Olympics, the discussion shall also focus on how sports have long been at the leading edge of TV and technology. Media is the universal glue for global content. Modern sport since its inception has been closely linked to media; media has expanded the reach of sports and provides exciting content through comprehensible narratives and modern heroes and celebrities.
Sport and media are enmeshed. It is, therefore, pertinent that Scorecard engages this important medium to deliberate on the state of the Sporting Nation.
Leading figures like former sports minister Ajay Maken, Olympic Gold Quest founder Viren Rasquinha and Badminton star Ashwini Ponnappa will also be a part of the discussion which shall focus mainly on shaping a successful innings for Indian Sports Industry: from generating financial support for professional athletes, to building infrastructure from the ground up and Health & Nutrition and thus in turn ensuring a greater haul of medals at the Olympics over years to come.