Everyone who plays a sport is a champion: Gopichand at GES 2017

The Global Entrepreneur Summit 2017 was enlivened by series of discussions on women entrepreneurship in the country which included underline of improving sports infrastructure by some of the biggest sport figures in the country; tennis star Sania Mirza, Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj, Dronacharya Pullela Gopichand, and martial artist from Thailand Chatri Sityodtong.

Spotlighting on the importance of sports, Gopichand said, “We need to find ways in which sports is looked at beyond winning. Also, we celebrate sports, not sports champions,” while speaking at the session on sports taken up by Harsha Bhogle at the summit.

He recommended entrepreneurs to develop an app which talks about health benefits of playing sports. He said, “If the benefits of playing sports is measurable, then everyone who plays sports is a champion, not just winner.”

On the note of encouraging girls in sports from their schooling, Mithali Raj remarked, “I don't get to see schools having infrastructure for sports or the school emphasising on sports. They do not have that right kind of channel.”

Commenting on the way, Sania Mirza added, “When I started playing, we used to play on cow dung courts, there was no hard or clay court. Now, for under 14 or 16 years of age, you get at least 1,000 entries and that shows there is an interest among both girls and guys, but girls, I think, a lot more because of opportunities.”

Gopichand, organised the thoughts on building infrastructure on various sports and games. He said that the traditional sports like wrestling, kho-kho, kabaddi, archery and malkhamb do not require expensive equipment and can be played in small areas. He said, “This is what the traditional sport was. We have moved from that space where people play for that reason to a space which goes into marketable, advertising, expensive equipment.”

Gopichand foregrounded saying, “We need to celebrate our local players. Sports diplomacy, sports entrepreneurs, sports physiotherapists, sports administration, all of them need to be looked at.”