Sportstar Conclave Bihar Edition: Focus on grassroots, women in sport; anecdotes from Olympians and more
The Sportstar Sports Conclave Focus Bihar brought together a diverse group of athletes, experts, administrators and stakeholders to discuss the sporting ecosystem in the region.
The event, held at Taj City Centre in Patna on Friday, was graced by Nitish Kumar, the Honourable Chief Minister of Bihar, who felicitated decorated athletes and para-athletes -- Deepa Malik, Vijender Singh, PR Sreejesh, Harendra Singh, Shiva Keshavan and Sharad Kumar.
As per Sportstar tradition, two special awards were bestowed on athletes from the State. Decathlete Jai Prakash Singh won the Unsung Champion award, while chess player Md. Reyan bagged the Young Achiever honour.
Vijender Singh, P.R. Sreejesh and Sharad Kumar joined us in Bihar to discuss the grit that goes behind medalling at the highest level
From their beginnings in sport to their motivations to keep contributing to the ecosystem, Olympians Vijender Singh, P. R. Sreejesh and Sharad Kumar sat down for a candid chat during the Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave in Patna.
“My role model was Hawa Singh who won both the Dronacharya and Arjuna Award. My grandfather used to box in the army so our biggest passion ended up being army and sport,” Vijender, an Olympic bronze medallist, said in a panel moderated by Vijay Lokapally .
High jumper Sharad said that the sport came naturally to him rather than him going after it. “Sometimes when you chase something and you don’t succeed, you end up drifting away from it. But if you go naturally, you keep going and eventually excel at it,” said the two-time Paralympic gold medallist.
Watching somebody with a leg deformity participate in high jump was a different kick and I wanted people to enjoy that. My coach in Ukraine used to say, ‘Sharad, others are athletes but you are an artist. Let all of them feel what is in high jump.' - Sharad Kumar, double Paralympic medallist
Double Olympic medal-winning hockey legend Sreejesh spoke about the mental strength goalkeepers need to possess to be in the zone despite being away from action for long periods.
“After conceding a goal or making a save you have enough time to think. If you control yourself it is easy to perform. But, if you use that time to analyse yourself or do a post-mortem, then you will concede a goal,” he explained.
In his new role as a coach of the junior team, Sreejesh shed light on the instructions he passes on to his players. “The first target is the Junior World Cup but I have asked them to think beyond that. The Olympics are coming in 2028 and 2032. That should be the dream,” he said.
Bihar’s ‘Chanakya Neeti’ in sports policy and the road to 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Bihar is adopting ‘Chanakya Neeti’ in its sports policy, Director General & CEO, Bihar State Sports Authority, Raveendran Sankaran , said during Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave.
Talking about the 23 sporting disciplines that would be accommodated at the Rajgir Sports Complex, Raveendran said that the Bihar government would focus on sports in which other States weren’t already at a very advanced stage.
“We have identified certain sports where, within the country, the competition is less, and the medal-winning capacity is more. We adopted Rugby Sevens, Sepak Takraw, fencing, cycling. Today, we are the champion of champions in Rugby Sevens in all categories,” Raveendran said during the panel discussion titled ‘Accelerating sport development in Bihar’, moderated by Sportstar editor Ayon Sengupta .
“The State government has launched three levels of sports scholarship policies.” B. Rajender, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Sports, Government of Bihar, said.
“The number one is Prerna - at the grassroots level. We are giving Rs. 3 lakh to each sportsperson between the ages of 12 and 18 and we are going to sponsor about 500 sportspersons a year. At the next level, we are going to give scholarships to 200 sportspersons between the ages of 12 and 24. Third category is ‘Udaan’ - the highest level. This includes the sportspersons that have reached the international level and won medals. We are providing Rs. 20 lakh per annum to 20 such sportspersons a year. This will encourage them, provide them with the ability to purchase equipment, invest in diet and cover travelling expenses.”
Rajender also spoke about the Bihar government’s sports recruitment policy ‘Medal Lao Naukri Pao’ and its evolution.
“This started in 2009. In the beginning, very few athletes were recruited. But now, in 2023, we refined the policy and modified the criteria. Last year, we appointed 71 sportspersons in different categories. Since inception, 358 athletes have benefitted.”
The Bihar government has also invested extensively in sports infrastructure and Raveendran laid out the roadmap with regards to the Rajgir Sports Complex, situated in the city that hosted the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament last year.
Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary lays out roadmap for sports development, says change in mindset key
The Honourable Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Samrat Choudhary, laid out the State government’s vision for the development of sports during the day-long Conclave.
He also highlighted the importance of a shift in mindset and moving away from the State’s obsession with academics.
“Bihar was known for the quality of education. In the UPSC exams, most of the students who pass are from Bihar and UP. We had created a mindset that if you study, you will be successful, and if you play sports, you will ruin your life. But the world has moved forward, and we are trying to keep pace through technology. We have decided to build 6,500 playing fields simultaneously and we have set ourselves the target of establishing around 5,000 by November 2025.
“We will also make youth clubs in school. We have created more than 5,000 youth club committees. This is to ensure that in all the close to 8,000 panchayats in the State there is adequate sports equipment. Once the whole process of establishing these youth clubs is complete, we will provide all the sports equipment in all the villages and panchayats so that a Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, or someone like our very own Shreyasi Singh can emerge from the villages of Bihar and make India proud,” Choudhary explained.
Let's talk periods: Bihar prioritses female-first policy at Sportstar Conclave
Menstruation and its impact on women taking up and sticking with sport took centre stage at the Sportstar Conclave - Focus Bihar.
Paralympic silver medallist and former Paralympic Committee of India president Deepa Malik bemoaned the taboo surrounding the subject of menstruation.
"I began my sporting career as a swimmer and when I would ask my coach how to compete in the water when on my period, the response was more of "kaise besharmi se baat karti hai" (how shamelessly she talks). I discussed it with a foreign athlete and found out alternatives to taking medicines to delay my cycle," she explained, in a panel moderated by Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan .
“A lot of our athletes suffer from very low haemoglobin levels. You mix that up with heavy bleeding, and that is going to be catastrophic. The nutrition level of our athletes is a big problem," Aditi Mutatkar, Program Head of Athlete and Women's Initiatives at Simply Sport Foundation said.
"Grassroots athletes are also not aware of options such as period underwear. There are a lot of misconceptions around contraception and a lack of awareness of the impact periods can have on performance," the former badminton player said.
Mihira Khopkar, a sports nutritionist who works with Reliance Foundation Hospital, cited a case study of a female athlete whose lack of period awareness impacted her results.
“A young girl kept having repeated stress fractures. When we investigated further, we realised that the pressure to be light on weight and body fat and to be agile on the court and have a good reaction time made her get into a routine of not following the best diet. That low energy availability led her to have irregular periods, which led to a drop in the level of estrogen, which is one of the most profound hormones that influences bone health.”
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Grassroots in focus - What needs to change in Bihar's sporting foundations?
Tackling challenges and breaking barriers at the grassroots were among the many issues on the agenda at the Sportstar Conclave – Focus Bihar. ?
“Less than five per cent of the population has access to sports infrastructure. The whole programme about trying to provide very good sports facilities and split them out across the country is really the core. If we are looking to tap the population dividend that we have, we need to reach out to the other 95 per cent as well,” Anil Kumar , Managing Director of Great SportsTech , said. ?
“Schools being the hub of where most the kids are gathering, obviously, government schools should be entitled to an entirely government-funded sports infrastructure. Even for private schools, if you are able to subsidize 50 per cent of infrastructure cost, the school will also have skin in the game, and they will also invest,” he added during the panel discussion moderated by Prasanth Shanthakumaran , Partner, KPMG India . ?
Rishikesh Joshi , Co-Founder and CEO of Sports For All, also highlighted the importance of leveraging India’s huge demographic dividend.?
"80 lakh school children play organised sport in the US. India's school population is 26 crore. If we did even five per cent of that at the school level, imagine how quickly we could catch up," he said. ?
Meanwhile, CEO and Founder of Khelo More, Jatin Paranjape , shed light on making sports infrastructure more accessible to India’s urban population. ?
“The Indian gentry from the top 30 cities also needs to access some of the municipal corporation-owned sports complexes because that is when you will see the culture change. A lot more Indians will start playing sport. It is very important for Indians to think about sport in a freer way and to think about it as being something which needs to be included in their lives.”
Bihar's success story: Adopting e-sports
Among Bihar's success in the sporting space is its championing of esports, with the State has also keen on hosting the first national games for esports. ?
While esports' legitimacy as a sport has often been questioned due to its lack of physical activity, NODWIN Gaming Co-Founder Akshat Rathee cleared the air. “Sports, as defined by the International Olympic Committee, is the pursuit of 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' (faster, higher, stronger). When you play a videogame on a smartphone, on a professional level, I am just faster than you. That is why it is a sport. I will kick the ball faster than you, I will shoot a bullet faster than you, I will jump faster than you, I will respond faster than you,” he explained. ?
"Individual esports in India has a lot of money. Esports in India has more than 250 people who earn more than one lakh rupees a month. I think building the grassroots is a discovery problem and not a ‘build’ problem. The opportunities are now about States going ahead and taking leadership to its constituents," Rathee said during the panel discussion, moderated by Abhishek Issar , Co-Founder of Federation of Esports India.?
Nishi Kant , Chief of Design & Product at JetSynthesys , outlined his vision for promoting the Indian narrative in the esports scene. ?
“Real Cricket is a true indigenous made in India game. All the e-cricket players, who currently play Real Cricket, the next big stage for them is GEPL - Global E-Cricket Premier League, which is the largest esports platform for e-cricketers. We will love to host a GEPL leg here in Bihar with the support of Bihar government and find and scout the best e-cricketing talent and put them on a global stage,” he said. ?
“Cricket is the biggest sport in India. I want to see the best e-cricketer from India, from Bihar, who can come up and play in the GEPL,” he added. ?
Data systems need to go down to the grassroots to build a sporting culture
During a panel discussion on ‘Unlocking athlete potential through Sports Science and Data’, Dr. Kishore Gopinathan , Principal and Regional Director- SAI, Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, Kariavattom, Thiruvananthapuram , stressed the importance of incorporating sports science at the grassroots level.
“At the top level, athletes under SAI, especially those under TOPS or the National Centre of Excellence, are being scientifically monitored and data analytics is being done. But, at the developmental level and the grassroots level, it hasn’t percolated as desired,” he said in a panel moderated by Y.B. Sarangi.
Dr. Harendra Singh-Dronacharya Awardee , head coach of the Indian women’s hockey team, also batted for the development of science and data in sports.
“After 28 years in the coaching circle, I can say that, if you impart science, you can achieve the target. It's not the skill only that is going to win you a medal. Sports science plays a vital role if you want to enhance performance and achieve a medal at the top level."
Kishore, the Principal of Laxmibai College of Physical Education, added that systems have to be implemented in the local tiers to familiarise athletes.
“It is difficult to convince the athletes who consider it an additional burden. [With data analytics] each athlete will develop inquisitiveness to know where he stands and he can himself progress,” he said.
“Nowadays, around the world, they have athlete management systems with a repository of data. SAI has also established a National Sports Repository System (NSRS) and an Athlete Management System, where each athlete’s performance can be monitored,” he added.
Dr. Pralay Majumdar , Senior Advisor, Centre of Excellence in Sports Science and Analytics, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras , reckoned that more had to be done in the field of biomechanics.
“We need to do a lot of work to improve the system in sports biomechanics due to a lack of resources and a lack of understanding by coaches dealing with the techniques and tactics in individual sports."?
"Good governance a non-negotiable"
Good governance is non-negotiable to bring out the best results at the LA 2028 Olympics and other international tournaments, opined Adille Sumariwalla , Vice President, World Athletics , during a panel discussion on ‘Learnings from the Paris Games’ as part of Sportstar’s Focus Bihar Conclave 2025.
Sumariwalla called for more communication between the stakeholders and a focus on the entire ‘ecosystem’ behind an athlete rather than holding the federations accountable for all performances.
“I think you need to fix the ecosystem. Just focusing on the athlete and a single coach won’t work. It is important to have even the technical officials at an international level,” he said.
Commodore PK Garg, former CEO of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), explained how research and interactions between the federation and athletes helps the flagship program.
“TOPS involves continuous research on how a select group of athletes can be developed. There is a synergised, multi-stakeholder approach, which helps TOPS fund each athlete based on their requirement. The Mission Olympic Cell has also been strengthened with the inclusion of sports science, which will improve athlete monitoring and make the scheme more accountable,” he said.
Shiva Keshavan , the Deputy Chef-de-Mission for India during Paris 2024 and a former Winter Olympian, provided an internal view from the camp.
“For the first time, both the Chef-de-Mission, Gagan Narang, and the Deputy Chef-de-Mission were Olympians. The impact we could have at the Olympic Village itself, as people who have been through it, knowing what the requirements of the athletes are, we could bridge the gap,” Keshavan said.
“We need to instil the culture of sports in our children. However big the infrastructure we create, if we are not able to connect that with the people then it won’t be of use,” said Putul Kumari, Senior Vice President, National Rifle Association of India. She elucidated the example of Haryana as a state that has managed to preserve the sports culture in legacy sports like wrestling, kabaddi and kho kho.
The Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave was presented by the Bihar State Sports Authority - BSSA and the Department of Sports, Government of Bihar. Associate sponsors are Indian Oil Corp Limited and State Bank of India . Great SportsTech is the technology partner, and KPMG is the knowledge partner.