Odisha Using Sports As A Power To Influence People’s Lives: Olympian Abinav Bindra

Bhubaneswar: Olympian Abhinav Bindra is all praise for the ‘Odisha Model’ of using sport as a power to influence people’s lives.

While explaining the importance of ‘human well-being of athletes’ for high performance, he said stressed the need to create an environment and culture of sports.

“It is not about getting 50 people together and expecting them to win gold medals. We have to create a psychologically safe environment for them because that is the core of high performance,” he was quoted as saying by Sports Star.

During an online interaction — India’s podium dream: The OdishaStory — organised by FICCI, he said that the medal tally in Olympic Games or world level (events) would increase when more people participate in sports for the sheer joy of it. “That’s when high performance will be a by-product,” he added.

Odisha has 10 high-performance centres.

Dilip Tirkey, another Olympian and chairman of the Odisha Hockey Promotion Council (OHPC), hoped that training would start soon at the hockey academy

While Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera sounded optimistic about hosting the women’s under-17 football World Cup in February next year, Sports Secretary Vishal Dev said the event would give an impetus to women’s football in 11 districts of Odisha.

Speaking on 2023 hockey World Cup to be hosted in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, the secretary said that this would increase the sport’s popularity in the hockey-crazy Sundargarh district.