Our ultimate goal is to have kabaddi included in Olympics: Kiren Rijiju

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Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said that kabaddi has huge potential not just in India and Asia, but globally and the ultimate aim of the country is to have the sport included in the Olympics.

"Kabaddi has already been included in the Asian Games and now, not just India, but all Asian countries must come together to ensure that the sport in included in the Olympics as well. That is our ultimate goal," Rijiju said.

He added, "And to achieve that goal we must improve the standard of the game in India and also ensure that we propagate it across geographical locations in India and the rest of the world."

He was addressing over 700 kabaddi coaches from all over India and from other countries, including Korea and Malayasia at the Online Coaches Knowledge Enhancement session organised by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in 20 sporting disciplines.

Speaking about the importance of the online workshops, Rijiju said, "I am sure we will win this battle against COVID-19. We would soon be able to go back to the ground to train and play, but till that happens, we will take advantage of the technology available to us. It is very important to keep ourselves updated about national and global practices and rules of a sport."

"Rules and regulations keep changing and those who do not update themselves will be left behind. We often lose out to teams from the western world because they far ahead in terms of their knowledge of rules. But with these sessions I am sure we will not be left behind," he added.

Applauding the success of the online workshops for coaches that SAI has been organising in association with National Sporting Federations, the Sports Minister said, "Everyday about 8000 coaches from 20 sporting disciplines are participating in these daily workshops and upgrading their knowledge about their sport."

"In the present times this is the largest exercise in the sporting world. I am very happy and proud that this could be achieved. This has been possible owing to the support from the federations because officials of SAI, Sports Ministry, NSFs and other stakeholders have a robust working relationship and the success of these workshops can be attributed to that co-operation.

"The co-operation between all stakeholders is the only way to truly improve the sports ecosystem in the country and to take Indian sport forward," he added.