How sport is now central to the Indian public and corporate imaginary

With India deciding to host the CWG in 2030 and wanting to mount a strong Olympic bid for 2036, this could well be the decade for sport in India.

I write this on a day when three things are happening in three different states, not to mention the start of the India versus South Africa T-20 series in Odisha.

First, Bengal is gearing up for the Leo Messi tour with ticket redemptions starting in full swing. Second, Telangana is hosting the Telangana Rising summit, and sport is central to it, with a galaxy of stars, Gopichand, PV Sindhu, Azharuddin, Anil Kumble, Jwala Gutta, and Vita Dani all in Hyderabad to articulate their vision for sport in the state. Third, Ageas Federal Life Insurance, led by Jude Gomes, is relaunching its brand with Sachin Tendulkar at the core in Mumbai.

Sport, may I say, is no longer a silo that needs a cursory mention. Rather, it is mainstream and is part of our mainstream discourse. It is soft power, and states and corporates now know that using sport can reach out to the masses better and much quicker.

Sport brings credibility in its wake, and sports persons are stars who are real and not reel. While consuming Messi in front of them, fans in Kolkata will get a sense of what it is like to watch the best ever in action. With Sachin, Ageas Federal Life Insurance knows that the client connection is much better and stronger. With Gopi at the forefront, Telangana is conscious that it doesn’t need to push for credibility.

The truth is, this will only grow with time. With India deciding to host the CWG in 2030 and wanting to mount a strong Olympic bid for 2036, this could well be the decade for sport in India. And when I say sport, I mean multisport.

Ours is not exactly an ideal world anymore.

There have been wars going on for months, people dying, and hostilities growing. We have rogue states that don’t really stand up to international statutes and guidelines, and people aren’t really happy going into another year. But the moment you look at sports, things change radically.

Thousands will line up the streets of Kolkata to catch a glimpse of Messi. Hundreds will consume Sachin in Mumbai, and many will latch on to each word that is spoken by Gopi and Anil, Azhar, or Sindhu in Telangana. That’s the power of sport, and that’s why it is the opiate of the masses.

India has also awakened to the fact that it is not always about elite high-performance sport. Rather, it is about sport for all and physical literacy. It is about being healthy and using sport as an enabler. That’s why you see the distance running revolution take off in such a huge way in the country. In three weeks, Kolkata will be staging two marathons, unheard of a few years earlier. In a month, Mumbai will step out to run, and distance running is now a passion in the country.

In all of this, there is hope. That’s what sport brings in its wake. Hope and optimism. Values of fair play and equality. The world badly needs each of them and only then, as Sachin says, “Dreams to come True”.