National Institute of Sport Partners with Australia to Improve Indian Sport

The nation of India has found great success in numerous sports, most notably cricket, but has clearly struggled in other popular sports and is strides away from emerging as a top sporting nation. India’s limitless potential begins with the massive population available to produce top-flight athletes to compete in various sports but, unfortunately, institutional instruction and overall development in athletics has lacked and is in need of immediate attention.

Fortunately, the National Institute of Sport (NIS) has partnered with the Australian Sports Academy (ASA) to provide assistance in improving India’s overall production of sport training, instruction and development. Australia touts the coveted reputation of one of the world’s top sporting nations. For example, experts closely affiliated with international competitions and odds-makers associated with gambling.com list Australian based teams and athletes as favorites in numerous competitions across multiple sporting events; Matthew Dellavedova, a notable professional basketball player and Australian native plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers who are pegged to win the USA's NBA Championship and is one of many Australian basketball players succeeding in competitive international leagues. Australia's rugby teams are powerhouses in international leagues across multiple rubgy styles. Australia’s international reputation for athletic instruction and athlete development is highly regarded and produces successful athletes in numerous international leagues.

The partnership became official with the NIS and ASA signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Sports Authority of India (SAI). The memorandum came after officials with NIS and ASA observed Indian athletes and instructors coming away with major concerns. The partnership will concentrate on the standards Australian athletics holds as well as the research and development implemented across the island continent.

The Executive Director of NIS, Dr. Roy will head the project and plans to begin concentrating on the popular sport of swimming, a sport that draws massive crowds during the Olympics and one in which Australian national teams find great success. The initial instruction for improvement in overall swimmer development should kick-off in late July. Dr. Roy very clearly explained why the partnership with Australia and their knowledge of emerging research is vital to the nation’s improved athletics overall; “We have to learn from Australia in terms of adaptation of technological advancements in sports as they are continuously evolving. Therefore, we are looking forward to equip our coaches so that they can help in nurturing fresh talent.”

The most notable official involved in the collaboration on the Australian side is Ahmed Sokarno, the CEO of ASA. He expressed his concerns with the stagnation of athletics in India over the last three decades; “Moreover, the sports curriculum in India continues to be the same since past almost three decades which is another reason Indian sports has not been able to come up as per expectations despite tremendous potential.”

The newly cemented partnership with NIS and the nation of Australia should not only improve India’s overall production of competitive athletic teams but should vastly improve the training, instruction and development of Indian athletes who have the potential to emerge as elite international competitors.