Dehradun: The revival of the National Games from 2022 and the government’s push to promote traditional sports across the length and breadth of the country have played a pivotal role in their resurgence at the national level. There is a rush amongst several such disciplines to jump on to the bandwagon as India keenly prepare to bid for the 2036 Olympics.
Be it mallakhamb, a competition highlighting flexibility, kalaripayattu, the martial arts form native to Kerala, or other indigenous events such as kho kho or yogasana – the age-old practice of yoga turned into a competitive sport – space is being made for them in the landscape of Indian and global sports.
From their low-key existence in various regions, such sports are increasingly raising the bar. The first Kho Kho World Cup was recently held in New Delhi with fanfare as 23 countries participated. The organisers were quick to announce that they are eyeing a spot for kho kho in India’s roster for the 2036 Olympics. Similar pitches have been made for yogasana and mallakhamb. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has included yogasana as a demonstration sport in the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Mallakhamb – a form of aerial yoga or gymnastics – recently opened a centre in the Netherlands in its efforts to globalise the sport. In the 2036 Games pitch, kabaddi will be right up there, having established itself at the Asian level.
After mallakhamb and yogasana were included as medal sports in the 2022 Gujarat National Games, there was high demand from other regional sports to get national recognition. So much so that the 2023 Goa National Games hosted competitions in a record 43 events and included an array of games like kalaripayattu, sqay martial arts and local sports like gatka and lagori as demonstration events, with a promise of their possibly being elevated to medal sports in future editions.
This time, however, IOA has brought down the number of sports to 36 at the Uttarakhand Games, cutting down many disciplines. Kalaripayattu too has been downgraded from a competitive sport to demonstration event – a move that saw its national body even knocking on the doors of the court.
However, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha said her body is committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all sports and will continue exploring avenues to elevate the status of traditional and indigenous sports through non-competitive and cultural initiatives.
“In its policy framework for the National Games, IOA emphasises the inclusion of sports with a broad national footprint, robust governing bodies, and active participation across multiple states. This ensures fairness and inclusivity in competition while promoting sports that align with the overarching goals of the National Games,” she said.
IOA intends to bring a proposal to reduce the scope of medal sports at the National Games and restrict it to only medal disciplines at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. This is to align the National Games with international standards.
An IOA official said that they received several complaints from athletes that lesser known sports are grabbing job opportunities. With several regional sports being elevated to medal events, medal winners were “entitled to benefits in state and central government jobs besides increments in pay and prize money, etc.”
“These are regional sports, some are indigenous sports spread all over. Last time, the technical committee allowed them as medal winning sports. In Haryana, 300 jobs are given and preference is for medal winners. In some indigenous games, there is not much competition compared to say track and field, and that doesn’t create a level-playing field,” said the IOA official.
“As far as the 2036 Olympics is concerned, there are a lot of processes involved for the inclusion of new sports in the Games programme. The sport has to have an international appeal, something which yogasana has. Besides, every sport is lobbying to get included, so a clear pathway needs to be drawn at the domestic level for it to be elevated to international level,” the official said.
