India's New Olympic Cycle Goal: 'Increased Participation', Says Chef de Mission Gagan Narang

Chef de Mission Gagan Narang hailed India's performance in the just-concluded Paris Olympics and said it's time to chalk out a strategic roadmap ahead of the new Olympic cycle to increase the participation in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.  (More Sports News)

A total of 117 Indian athletes participated across 16 disciplines at the Paris Games and India ended their campaign with six medals – one silver and five bronze.

"Firstly, I congratulate the medal winners. A total of 6 medals (1 Silver, 5 Bronze) is a commendable effort," said Narang ahead of his return from the French capital.

"Though, personally, I feel we could have finished with a few more medals, it is worth mentioning the near-misses. There were at least six 4th place finishes and quite a few of our athletes finished in the finals of their respective events.

"This is encouraging, and we should take heart from these results, introspect on the fine margins and how we can better these performances," he added.

Narang, who had won a bronze in shooting at the London Olympics, said the National Sports Federations (NSFs) should chart out a roadmap to increase participation in the next Games.

"We must find ways to build a strong sports culture and increase the number of participations from India. That should be our goal for this new Olympic cycle," he said.

"Also, most importantly I feel whilst we are teaching our athletes how to win, we must also teach them how to accept defeat and come back with a bang."

There were six fourth place finishes in Paris and Narang said it is important to take lessons from the near misses and move ahead.

"There are many learnings and take aways from these performances in Paris. From what I saw at this Olympics, it’s only the small margins that we need to close in now to elevate this performance," he said.

"I will be submitting my observations in an extensive report to the IOA and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. While India has come a long way in the past decade, and we had a fully equipped medical team at the village with Dinshaw Pardiwala as CMO.

"We will grow from strength to strength to compete with the USA and China in the future in sport science backup as well."

'Need to create a pathway for athletes'

Narang said collective efforts must be made to chart an athlete’s career trajectory, which also includes long-term financial literacy and utilising the athlete’s experience by absorbing them into the system.

"To further the growth, collective efforts are being made and should be strengthened further to chart our athlete's career. We need to plan life after sport for an athlete so that their approach is long term," he said.

"Financial literacy, absorbing them into the system and utilizing their knowledge and experience, creating job opportunities in district, state and national sports organizations as administrators and coaches should be a priority."

Narang said such steps will help athletes to pursue their events with confidence.

"Only then will parents and the athletes feel secure to pursue sport professionally and invest their time and efforts in it. We must also focus on athlete’s mental well-being, this is extremely critical for athletes to feel assured and that they are cared for," he noted.