Encourage sporting excellence at the local level

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At a recent cricket event, where the focus was on local, city cricket, several panellists spoke out about their memories of cricket in Mumbai. What came through was that we need to keep school cricket going strong, and there must be a fillip for university and college cricket. The latter was once extremely important and prestigious, but has slipped down the ladder over the years. There has to be a concerted effort to revive it to its past stature.

This was about cricket, but we need to use a wider lens to include all sports. We get champions by making the base of the ladder and its rungs immensely strong. It is only then that our athletes can scale that and reach for the skies.

By grassroots, one means making infra and competition robust at the lower rungs. This edit space also highlighted earlier how our sportsmen and women must get some rewards at the lower level, too, in small competitions. Bonanzas at the top are all very well and welcome, but to make the journey to their destination smoother, some prize money even if nominal, would help at the lower level.

Then, of course, there is the fact that our talent spotters must fan out even in remote areas, so that there is equality when it comes to opportunity.

Then, we must pay attention to sporting grounds and access, which are the base of building a good sporting ecosystem. That has to be the toughest, strongest layer on which one can build.

Once that is ensured, you will have athletes and, hence, a pool with depth for competition. From there, talent spotters can pick the potential champions. This is the systematic, planned way we build a system that delivers great results on the sporting stage. We must go vocal for local, too, when it comes to sport.