He said the country should have won more medals given the potential it had.
Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday said that he was not satisfied with the country's performance in the past Olympics and called for long-term preparation to ensure that athletes win medals in the top-notch events like these.
He said the country should have won more medals given the potential it had.
"As I have said, we are not satisfied with our Olympics performance. Our players worked hard and some of them have brought medals. But like I said the potential and strength that India has, in comparison to that, we are not satisfied with our Olympics performance," Rijiju told reporters after visiting the Sports Authority of India centre in suburban Kandivali.
"So, for the forthcoming Olympics, we are preparing comprehensively and we need to give the foundation for it," he said.
During the interaction with officials and athletes earlier, the minister stressed the point and said for the Tokyo Olympics, no changes will be made as little time is left for the mega event.
"For the long term, we know we will have to do something different, something new. We have a very big country, over 1.3 billion people, so according to that, we haven't got many medals at the Asian Games and Olympics.
Especially at the Olympics, India's performances haven't been good," Rijiju said.
The minister said his main objective was to develop a sports culture in the country aimed at making athletes attain excellence.
"The traditional sports that we used to dominate like hockey, we last won a medal, that too gold, in 1980. After that, no medal has come in hockey. We have won individual medals, but not as much as we should have. In Rio (Olympics), we got a silver and bronze," he said.
"The objectives now are for especially Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, for which we have another four years and eight years to prepare," the minister added.
"Tokyo 2020 is a year away. So there are not many changes that we can make. Whatever preparations have been made so far, we will have to go forward with that. We will have to change policies, increase capacity building,
increase scientific research and provide the highest level of training, and so much more and we have to do a lot," added Rijiju.
"Policy changes, capacity building, scientific research and imparting highest level of training has to be the focus," the minister said.
The minister said athletes, irrespective of levels of seniority, will be served the equal amount of food depending upon the diet suggested by the nutritionist as well as personal likes and dislikes.
Rijiju expressed optimism that India would win the cricket World Cup underway in England and Wales.
Meanwhile, he refused to comment when asked whether the Centre would give permission to host women's series with Pakistan, terming it as a "sensitive" matter.
"When you take up bilateral matches or events with another country, then it is a matter between the two countries.
(And) for that matter, we will have to consult MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) and of course the PMO (Prime Minister's Office)," Rijiju said.
"But when it is a multi-lateral (multi-nation) tournament like World Championship, World Cup or any event and India happens to be (the host of) the event, then there should be no issue. But bilateral I cannot comment because bilateral is little sensitive, so I would not be able to comment..." he said.
When reminded that the India-Pakistan series is part of the ICC Championship, Rijiju said, "Any event which is playing between two countries exclusively, I cannot comment, but if it's part of international multilateral championship then there should be no problem..."
He also sounded optimistic about the Virat Kohli-led team winning the World Cup for the third time.
"I have already sent my official greetings to the Indian team and the coach. Since India is already there in the semi-finals, we hope, looking at the performance of our players, we are extremely optimistic and hopeful that India will lift the World Cup once again and bring back the World Cup home for the third time," he added.
The minister earlier in the day visited Army Sports Institute in Pune.
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 "Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju")
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