The Year That Was: Beyond the podium — India’s ambition under spotlight

It’s non mutual for Neeraj Chopra to destination 8th at the domain Championships, but if there’s anything Indian sports fans, spoiled by his unerring consistency, will remember 2025 for, it may well be for the double Olympic medallist looking his most vulnerable. Interestingly, it was also the year Chopra breached the 90m barrier for the first time -- it’s just been that kind of year.

The year after the Olympics is usually subdued with most athletes going back to the drawing board to recalibrate strategies for the new cycle, and for some of India’s biggest medal potentials, that was precisely the case. Badminton ace PV Sindhu battled form and injuries while long jumper Murali Sreeshankar made a triumphant return from a career-threatening knee injury. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu quietly gobbled up another World Championships medal and Animesh Kujur became the fastest Indian on track.

The bigger headline, however, came in Glasgow when Ahmedabad was declared the host of the 2030 Commonwealth Games, making it only the second time India will stage the event.

While the earlier instance – CWG 2010 in New Delhi – was marred with controversies, cost overruns, and corruption despite India crossing the 100-medal threshold for the only time in the Games, CWG 2030 is being marketed as India’s chance to project its soft power to the world. And not without reason. Beijing hosting the 2008 Olympics did wonders to China’s profile, and cities like London, Madrid and Melbourne take immense pride in their thriving sports infrastructure.

That said, legitimate questions remain over the relevance of the Commonwealth Games itself, given that the idea of the Commonwealth is rooted in a colonial legacy. Add to this the growing reluctance of nations to host large multi-discipline sporting events – CWG 2026 had no takers after Victoria pulled out before Glasgow stepped in with a curtailed version – and reservations over a multi-crore exercise appear increasingly justified.

On the brighter side lies a rare opportunity to project India as a preferred global destination for big-ticket sporting events. More importantly, the infrastructure push that such events demand tends to have a cascading effect on international performance. That was evident 15 years ago, when the momentum of the 2010 Games helped India secure a six-medal haul at the 2012 London Olympics, a tally that remained the country’s best until Tokyo 2021. Brazil, which hosted the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics within two years, also produced its best Olympic performance in 2016, winning 19 medals at home.

As far as infrastructure is concerned, India can take a leaf out of Hangzhou that made sustainability the cornerstone of their preparation for the 2023 Asian Games. Out of the 56 competition venues for the Asiad, only 12 were newly built. The remaining 44, along with 31 training venues, were renovated from, or temporarily built on, existing sites.

Back in 1982, when India hosted the Asian Games in Delhi, the city underwent a sweeping transformation led by the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The venue now boasts a ₹44-crore Mondo track and serves as a training base for elite able-bodied and para-athletes, while also functioning as the home ground for Punjab FC. The Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, revamped for the 2010 Games, remains the nursery of India’s shooting talent, and the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium – another gift of 1982 – continues to host major competitions.

Ahmedabad boasts of the world’s largest cricket stadium and hosted the Asian Aquatics Championships as well as Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships this year. Fresh infrastructure is expected to come up at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave and Gujarat Police Academy, which would include an athletics stadium and a shooting range.

A 300-acre complex featuring 10 new stadiums, aquatics centre, indoor arena, and an athletes’ village for 3,000 athletes at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave means India’s top athletes will potentially have access to world-class facilities without having to train and travel abroad.

The recently-inaugurated Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, built at a cost of ₹825 crore, is equipped with an aquatics stadium, an indoor multi-sports arena, outdoor courts, a Fit India Zone, and a Sports Centre of Excellence. Karai Sports Complex, featuring a 50,000-capacity athletics stadium, indoor arena, and a shooting range is also coming up.

Hosting rights alone, however, are no panacea. As India prepares for CWG 2030 and harbours ambitions of hosting the 2036 Olympics, a hard look is needed at where Indian sport stands.

The paltry, single-digit returns at the Olympics do not sit well with a nation willing to spend millions to invite events that few wish to host and the perennial doping menace has not gone unnoticed either. Country’s TOPS and TAGG schemes for elite and promising athletes and a strong public anti-doping posture make for superb optics; whether or not it will translate into tangible results on home turf will make for an interesting viewing.

---

---