In business summits in India, you rarely see sport get its due. There is always a sports session, but it is tucked away between lunch and tea, and more of a token presence than anything else. If the other sessions take a little extra time, the sports session is the one that gets chopped. In my previous organisation, I was once asked to do a 10-minute session, down from 45! The truth is, few really care.
That’s where the Telangana Rising Summit was different. It was refreshing because it had sport at the start of Day Two, straight after the Chief Minister’s opening remarks, and it featured some of the best sports stars from the country on the panel. While some of the other sessions had a few empty seats, Hall Number 2 was overflowing and packed. It felt good to host the panel.
Coming to the conversation, it was always going to go well with sportspeople like Pullela Gopichand, Anil Kumble, Mohammed Azharuddin, PV Sindhu, Vita Dani, Ambati Rayudu and Jwala Gutta, alongside senior bureaucrats like Jayesh Ranjan on the panel – not to mention the sports minister. Each wants to drive change, and Telangana is serious about its sport. Few in the audience were seen fiddling with their mobile phones, and the conversation was meaningful and insightful.
Gopi emphasised physical literacy, while Jwala made a passionate plea for coaching our own coaches and making them full-time employees rather than keeping them on contract. Azhar spoke about the government’s initiatives to promote grassroots sport, while Jayesh Ranjan touched upon the importance of sports in schools. Sindhu focused on how to give back, while Vita Dani committed to investing more in Telangana sport if opportunities are opened up. Finally, the minister promised to do much more in the months to come, and give sportspersons the respect and opportunities they deserve.
As moderator, it was important to tie the panel together and keep the synergy going. That’s what I tried to do, and in the end, it was a very insightful hour of sports talk. Telangana is perhaps the only state where one academy – the Gopichand Badminton Academy, to be specific – has produced more than 40 international medals over the last 10 years.
Not only is the state opening its doors to athletes and coaches, but it is also determined to use sport as soft power and is therefore welcoming Lionel Messi to Hyderabad on December 13.
Also read Gopichand’s Mizoram Project: A Quiet Revolution in Indian Badminton
I am always a little apprehensive about these summits. I find them focused on glamour and glitz, with little meaningful conversation. This one was different, and each one of us left with a sense that Telangana indeed means business. While I would have liked to see a para-sportsperson on the panel, it is clear that the state is doing its bit for para sport, as was evident from what the chairman of the sports authority said.
In sum, it was a good session, and it has prompted me to think about whether Telangana can truly fulfil its promise of having one sportsperson in every discipline that India participates in at the 2036 Olympic Games. If that happens, it will no longer be about “Telangana Rising”. Rather, we can then safely say, “Telangana has risen.”
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