BRISBANE: India has stressed on the inclusion of traditional sports including shooting, archery, wrestling, kabaddi, kho kho and football in the commonwealth games to enhance the relevance of the event for South Asia.
Taking part in the Commonwealth Games Federation meeting in Brisbane, Indian Olympic Association Member Lt Gen Harpal Singh (Retd) presented India's case strongly and emphasised that the total population of the Commonwealth countries is 2.2 billion.
"Out of which more than 80 per cent (1.8 billion) is in South Asia. It is very imperative that traditional games of South Asia are included in all the future Commonwealth games," he said at the meeting.
The Indian delegation in the meeting recommended the following five top priorities out of the 9 priority actions for Asia in the CGF Strategic Plan: this includes the establishment of an innovative, high-quality sports programme and product, building and maintaining a strong partnership with all Commonwealth countries and wider athlete representation and voice across governance.
Lt Gen Harpal Singh said that the youth of the country will be inspired if sports are made attractive to the youth.
He said that India has a very structured program for sports in schools where traditional games are included. Therefore, to attract and inspire youth, traditional games like shooting, archery, wrestling, kabaddi, kho kho, and football should be included in the Commonwealth Games.
This will enhance the relevance of the Commonwealth games to South Asia. He said these traditional games have a large fan base both in terms of physical spectators and digital fanbase. This will result in much-needed revenue for the CGF for the promotion of sports. He also informed the delegates that the newly constituted Indian Olympic Association (IOA) team is in sync with the CGF priority of "Widen athlete representation and voice across governance".
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