Fuelling Olympic dreams: How robust private funding boosts sports in India

The ecosystem to ensure athletes can reach their peak performance has grown. We speak to some of the organisations working to ensure a podium finish

Upon walking into the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) in Vijayanagar, the first thing one notices is an electronic board. The board displays a countdown to the Paris Olympics which, at the time, was over five months away. And yet, to see the numbers—151 days, 8 hours… slowly changing every second, made it seem so much closer. The countdown is a reminder of the shared goal that everyone at the institution is working towards—from athletes to dieticians, physiotherapists to coaches—which is the hope for India’s largest medal haul at this year’s Olympics. 

Away from the bustle of the city, the IIS is spread over a sprawlings 42 acres. On the campus, one can find a performance centre spanning 16,000 square feet, 156 dormitories, and a combat hall with three boxing rings and three wrestling mats. The flagship focus of JSW Sports, the institution was founded in 2017, and this year, 19 athletes from the IIS have made their way to Paris. It is perhaps best known for where Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra trains, but athletes from across five Olympic disciplines train here too.

Similarly, OGQ, the Abhinav Bindra Foundation, and the Reliance Foundation Olympic Initiatives are some of the private, non-profit organisations working with athletes on their chase for a podium place. Sports analyst Siddharth Pandey, a former under-19 hockey player and now Level 3 FIH-certified coach says, “To convert potential into medals takes professionalism. It takes focus and it takes a village.” That village is now privately funded in the quest for national glory.

A long-term investment

Neha Aggarwal, who represented India in table tennis at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and who is currently Chief Partnership Officer at the OGQ, explains, “We exist because we are able to catch athletes at a younger age and then provide them the necessary support that is needed for them to excel, both at the Olympics and Paralympics.”

Aggarwal stresses that it is a long-term investment and journey for the organisation, a fact that is echoed by Rushdee Warley, CEO of the IIS. Warley emphasises the need to start supporting athletes when they are young. To that end, at the IIS, school-going students continue with their education even as they train for a sport. The dormitories are divided by gender, with a new girl’s dormitory having recently opened. In fact, in the near future, he expects the institution to be training more women athletes than men.

At the IIS, swimming is the newest discipline for which training will soon commence. Warley notes that the swimmers who are being supported will require investment and training over a long period of time. “It will take us 8-10 years to develop a programme where you will start seeing athletes qualifying on what they call the ‘Olympic A’ qualifying time—which is essentially the 16 fastest timings in the world,” he says. 

 A sanctuary for athletes 

When talking about the IIS, Warley calls it “a sanctuary for athletes,” where they “get the opportunity to be away from the city and focus on what’s important.” Over the past weekend, Manu Bhaker, who has trained at the IIS, opened India’s medal tally at the Paris Olympics by clinching a bronze medal in the 10m Women’s Air Pistol.

Boxer Nishant Dev clinched the bronze medal at the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championship in Tashkent in 2023. Dev has been training at the IIS since 2017. This year, he will be representing India in the 71 kg category, the same category in which he won the bronze last year. He notes, “When I joined the IIS, I was really young and I hadn’t really worked too much on the basics. I knew I wanted to be a boxer, but it’s at the IIS where I received the right guidance and facilities needed to grow.”

For Dev, having access to a place like the IIS Sports Science Lab—which is one of the best-equipped in the country—gives any athlete an extra edge. “The staff at the Lab  and at the High-Performance Centre have worked with several Olympic athletes in the past,” which, he says, helped him as well.  

A collective effort

Even as private players work to train and support athletes, there is an immense amount of interfacing with existing organisations and hierarchies, whether it be working with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for accreditation for personnel for the Olympics itself, or scouting for talent. Aggarwal notes, “We work very closely with the government in this endeavour—with the Sports Authority of India, the TOP (Target Olympic Podium) Scheme.”

On the level of the games this year, each player’s support team needs to be accredited by the IOA, hence coaches and physiotherapists must first apply to the Sports Authority of India and the IOA and before being allowed to be part of the contingent for Paris.

However, none of the institutions and foundations look at team sports, which is surprising, given that throughout the last century, it was hockey in which India won medals at the Olympics. Pandey notes, “The three most-played sports in India are team sports,” which include hockey, cricket, and football. By focusing on the quest for individual medals, he believes that a vast number of potential athletes, often at the grassroots, are being ignored, as they grow up playing team sports. 

What is clear is that these institutions and organisations are working as incubators for talent, channelling funding and infrastructure to help medal hopefuls reach their potential at the global level. For the OGQ, funding is obtained from companies for which the donations can be received via their CSR arm, HNIs, and other family foundations. Ultimately, what is imperative is that the athletes get the best support. 

Dev perhaps sums it up best when he says, “I’m really looking forward to being in Paris and taking in all that the Olympic Games has to offer. It has always been my dream to take part in the Olympics…I am excited. At the same time, I know that I have to perform. I can’t let the excitement of the moment get to me; I have to focus. I want to bring back a medal for India, and all my energy is on that.”

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