Olympic ambitions clash with the realities of sports in India

Delhi, India: Sangeeta Das sits pensive outside the one room she shares with her parents. From braving a patriarchal Indian society to struggling with a lack of financial support, the 33-year-old footballer has had an arduous journey, one which now seems to be ending nowhere. 

When Das first started playing football under an initiative by the non-profit organisation CEQUIN, she was 21, a “latecomer” to the world of sports. She took to it like fish to water. Over the years, she put all her savings from odd jobs and the funds her father had set aside for her wedding to fuel her dream of becoming a national-level player. It wasn’t enough. 

“I now work as a football coach. This way I stay connected to the sport, but it’s not the same,” Das says.  

Das’s tale reflects the larger state of athletes and sports in India. Raw talent often goes unrecognised in early years, and government investment is low. For comparison, India’s latest annual Sports budget (376 million US dollars) is only about 1.13% of that of China (33.2 billion US dollars), a similarly populous country.

Consequently, a country of over one billion people has won only 10 Olympic gold medals in its history.  

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“Most athletes cannot afford private turfs. There is zero investment in public school sports. Most Indian schools do not even have playgrounds. The little investment or access available is gendered. Girls have to literally “man up” to navigate these spaces. Tournaments for women are held only occasionally, and most athletes quit,” rues Nida Ansari, who is manager of Communication, Partnerships and Sports for Empowerment at CEQUIN.

Add to this factors such as malnutrition, and the situation reveals itself to be dire. Of the 123 countries scored in the Global Hunger Index 2025, India stands at the 102nd position. The index reports alarming child stunting, with one in three children being affected in the country. Further, reports by two global NGOs, Concern Worldwide (Ireland) and Welt Hunger Hilfe (Germany), reveal that India's child wasting rate is the highest globally (18.7%). 

Similarly, a study done on the dietary nutrition index of players of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Chattisgarh showed that tribal children, especially girls, were quite malnourished, which affected their performance compared to children in other SAI centres.  

Undernourishment impacts growth, the immune system, and the ability to function in day-to-day life, let alone performance in sports, which requires more than ordinary strength, stamina or concentration. No wonder then that the top ten priorities recognised by the Copenhagen consensus of 2008 had five in the area of nutrition. 

India has no sports policies to speak of

India got its first National Sports Policy (NSP) in 1984, nearly 37 years after gaining independence. Fund allocations remained modest, and sporadic successes were recorded in some games, mainly hockey. 

Finally, in 2000, a Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) was established. The following years saw a revised national policy and sports featured in the Union Budget for the first time, with a paltry allocation of ~51 million US dollars

But till today, sports is a ‘State’ subject under the Indian Constitution, which means only state assemblies may make laws on sports. The Union government earmarks a budget and focuses on national and International sports, but the primary responsibility for identifying and nurturing athletes lies with the 28 states and the eight union territories in India. Consequently, non-uniform infrastructure, policies and funding are the norm. 

“All these schemes are only on paper. There is no investment at the grassroots level. The sports policy introduced last year has still not been reflected in state budgets. The grassroots sports are developed in public parks, most of which do not even have enough green cover,” says Ansari.

A national scheme for developing athletes has led to no medals

In 2017, Khelo (play) India was launched by the Indian government at the national level, after merging multiple existing schemes to “revive the country’s sports culture” and to identify and nurture young talent, particularly in rural areas. Funding of 6,848 US dollars per year per athlete was finalised for 2,970 athletes. It included a 109 US dollars per month out-of-pocket allowance for each athlete.

But Khelo India, like other grassroots programs, has faced delays and obstacles. According to a 2023 sports ministry report, only 12% of identified athletes successfully transitioned to advanced training facilities. Less than 40% of the allocated National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) budget for athlete development was utilised in 2022-2023.

“After nearly 8 years, not a single athlete trained under Khelo India has participated in the Tokyo Olympics, the Paris Olympics or the Asian Games,” says Norris Pritam, a veteran sports journalist and author, who has covered six Olympics and seven Asian Games.

India’s 2036 Olympics bid

India submitted an official bid for hosting the 2036 Olympics at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, in July 2025. Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat, home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been proposed as the host venue.

To reinforce its Olympic bid, the government unveiled the Khelo Bharat Niti (Play India Policy) in 2025, under which a record annual funding of 457 million US dollars was approved, a 130% increase from a decade ago. Another 120 million US dollars was earmarked for its flagship programme, Khelo India.

In a first, the IOC might soon add an Indian sponsor to its current list of 15 top-tier partners. During the 2024 Paris Olympics, Anne-Sophie Voumard, the IOC's marketing director, said, “We would love to welcome a first Olympic Partner (TOP) sponsor from India.”

In the same year, Indian PM Modi cited the successful G20 summit held a year before as proof that the country could handle major global events. India has also hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Apart from Ahmedabad, which is set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games, Olympics host-city contenders include Doha (Qatar), Istanbul (Turkey), Santiago (Chile), and South Africa. Meanwhile, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the UK are keen on the 2040 Olympics. Some experts see this as a lack of stiff competition for Ahmedabad in 2036, which might work in its favour. This and the fact that Nita Ambani, who has been an IOC member since 2016 and whose family is the richest in India, also hails from Gujarat.

Already, Ahmedabad and neighbouring Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujarat, have outlined an Olympic plan. The cost estimates range from 4.1 billion to 7.5 billion US dollars A large-scale Olympic-style masterplan has been designed for Ahmedabad, which envisions a walkable cluster of gaming venues set around training, housing and public spaces. The plan is to create infrastructure that can both host global events and serve athletes at other times.  

Sports scribe Pritam, however, reminds us of the past: 

“The massive world-class Nehru Auditorium was built for the 1982 Asian Games. Then it remained shut for two years with no access for athletes. Clearly, billions of rupees went to waste. It (the Olympics) is just a prestige project. Countries like Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia have won more medals than India, but have never hosted such games,” he says. 

Pritam also calls into question the decision to select Ahmedabad as the host city, a sentiment echoed by many. 

“Ahmedabad is not known for sports or athletes. This decision seems politically motivated. Odisha, Haryana and Manipur states have been doing better in sports. Why was Gujarat picked?” he asks.

Despite multiple attempts by Play the Game to seek comments, the Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports did not respond.

Bad conditions for athletes during previous sports events in India

Apart from the controversy regarding the choice of host city, there are other obstacles on India’s path to Olympic glory. The IOC has flagged the lack of detail in the Indian bid and the country’s doping problems. India continues to be high on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s watch list, with 260 positive cases reported last year.  

Then there is the question of mismanagement during earlier sports mega-events. From allegations of financial irregularities and unhygienic conditions in the athletes’ villages to collapsing ceilings and footbridges, the 2010 Commonwealth Games seemed to have lurched on from one mishap to another. 

In January 2026, the country’s premier badminton tournament, the India Open, was held in New Delhi, where international players complained about unhygienic conditions and severe pollution. World no 3 Anders Antonsen chose to pay a 5,000 US dollars fine rather than play a game, citing hazardous weather conditions. 

In December 2025, several lapses were reported at the country’s Boxing Nationals held near the capital, where international medallists were evicted from hostels before they could contest the final bouts.

In February 2026, Bangladesh withdrew from the men’s T20 World Cup, to be held next month, after their request to move their group matches from India to co-hosts Sri Lanka was denied. Pakistan is also mulling over a boycott. Cricket will return to the Olympics in 2028 for the first time since 1900, and the IOC has expressed concerns over the potential politicisation of the sport.

But the dismal performance of Indian athletes at global platforms remains the most prominent issue. India did not win a single gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics and finished 71st in the medal tally. 

“The Indian government cannot take care of its own athletes; how can it justify hosting international events? Olympian PR Sreejesh’s family had to sell their cow to buy him a hockey kit. Athlete Neeraj Chopra’s uncles pooled money to buy him a javelin. Athletes’ families routinely sell off their entire lands to buy them equipment and diet supplements. The sole reason for such bids is to get political mileage. By the time a decade has passed, governments would have changed,” Pritam says.