PM asks states to form committees to prepare for Olympics

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) After deciding to form a TaskForce to prepare for the next three Olympics, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi today asked states to set up similar panels as"lot more" needs to be done to improve India’s performance insports. During his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’, hehailed the girl power as he referred to Rio medal winners –shuttler P V Sindhu and wrestler Sakshi. He also hailedgymnast Dipa Karmakar, who missed a medal by a narrow margin. He lauded P Gopichand, ace badminton player and Sindhu’scoach, describing him as an example of a fine teacher. "It cannot be denied that our performance (in Rio) wasnot up to the expectation," Modi said while mentioning aboutthousands of messages to him from people who wanted him tospeak on the subject of sports in view of poor performance inRio Olympics as they were badly disappointed. "In some cases, Indian players could not even perform tothe level they do in games at home and in the medals tally, wehad only two," he added. At the same time, he said Indian participants in someevents like hockey, shooting and boxing performed well, evenbetter than the past. "But my countrymen, we need to do a lot more. If wecontinue doing what we have been doing, then perhaps we willagain be disappointed," he said. In this context, he referred to his recent announcementto form a Task Force under which the government will "go deep"into the subject, study the best practices in the world andprepare a roadmap for the next three Olympic Games in 2020,2024 and 2028. "We have to formulate a long-term programme,"he said. The Prime Minister asked state governments also to formsuch committees to see what could be done to improveperformances in sports. He said states can also send theirsuggestions to the Centre in this regard. He said associations linked to sports should also dobrain-storming in an unbiased manner. Modi invited even individual citizens, with interest insports, to write to him or the government. "We should do all preparations and I am confident thatthe country of 125 crore people, 65 per cent of them youth,will move ahead with this resolve," he said. PTI AKKAKK