"Promotional Activities For Sports Except Cricket Extremely Disappointing": Plea In SC Seeks Directions For Upliftment Of Sports & Proper Funds Allocation

The plea filed by Advocate Vishal Tiwari has also urged the Court to declare Hockey as India's National Game.

The petitioner has sought directions for initiating public accountability of the funds allocated for the sports industry and perform greater promotional activities with due broadcasting of such sports.

Further, directions have been sought to promote the Athletics games of Olympics at School and College level, and for the formulation of a Special Committee to govern the Sports program in Schools and Colleges.

The plea has urged the top court to issue directions to the Government for the advancement of Athletics Games and Sports played in Olympics and to provide advanced training, infrastructure, and funds to our Sportsmen.

According to the petitioner, such inculcation of sports education with world-class facilities, infrastructure and correct use of public money needs to be looked into with greater prominence for the upliftment of the sports industry of the country.

The plea has argued that the promotional activities pertaining to sports other than cricket has been extremely disappointing, resulting in lesser awareness of other sports that are equally important for the people to play. Such a lukewarm approach with no allowances for the players has resulted in demotivation and dropping out of those sports. 

Referring to the Olympics, the plea has argued that the inability to compete with the best of the best on the greatest platform in the world is due to a lack of exposure to top-level competition, infrastructure, international level facilities and training.

"When compared to countries like Grenada and Jamaica, which win a medal for every couple of hundred thousand people, India's performance is abysmal. So, why is it that India isn't punching above its weight? Discrepancy in the allocation of money arising from the government policies to the ground level stands as a greater question with no accountability." the plea reads.

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