If we have to host Olympics 2036, we have to start preparing our own athletes now: Mizoram Sports Minister Lalnghinglova Hmar

Sports Minister Lalnghinglova Hmar shared his ideas about how he envisions Mizoram to take rapid strides and be counted among the leading sporting states of the country.

Mizoram Sports Minister Lalnghinglova Hmar, fourth from left, with other dignitaries at the Mizoram Sports Conclave 2024. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

In order to translate its love for sports into performance with an ultimate aim to contribute handsomely for the country, which is planning to bid for the 2036 Olympics, Mizoram has begun by holding a two-day sports conclave at its capital Aizawl.

The state leadership is keen on working strategically to help the Mizoram sportspersons to excel despite the limitations in the state. 

Sports Minister Lalnghinglova Hmar played a key role in assembling top sportspersons, officials of different national federations and sports administrators from public and private sectors and expose the state to various ideas and concepts for development in this field during the conclave.

Hmar found some time to speak to Sportstar to share his ideas about how he envisions Mizoram to take rapid strides and be counted among the leading sporting states of the country.

Excerpts

Q) What is the purpose and aim of organising the Mizoram Sports Conclave 2024?

A) Mizoram is a sports-loving state. But when I looked at the medal tally in the last National Games and also the North East Games, I found that it was very disappointing. When I became the Sports Minister, I wanted to make sure that our medal tally increases. That’s number one. 

There are some sports which are very popular in Mizoram, like football, basketball and volleyball. But there are some lesser-loved sports which bring medals in the National Games, Asian Games and the Olympics. If we have to take sports seriously, we have to make sure that we consistently win medals, at least to start with in the National Games.

That was my vision when I started as the Sports Minister. But after learning that India is bidding for 2036 Olympics, the first thing which came to my mind was that I want to be a part of this 2036 Olympics.

Then I realised that now India being a superpower economically, you’d be able to deliver on the infrastructure front. When I met the then Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, I asked him this question: So India will be able to start the best of infrastructure, we will deliver in that front, but who is going to compete in these infrastructure? Is it the Chinese athlete and the American athlete?

That was my question to him. If we have to host Olympics 2036, we have to start preparing our own athletes now. A 10-year-old kid will be 22 by 2036. Otherwise, we are getting late. 

Kolasib Mizoram team celebrates their victory over Unique Model Academy, Manipur in the finals of the (U-14) Subroto Cup international football tournament. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR/The Hindu

With that vision, I said that I wanted to be a part of the 2036 Olympics and I want my people to participate in the Olympics. But for that, you need to start from somewhere.

So, this conclave was because I want the best of best in Indian sports to come to Mizoram and speak about Olympics, the challenges and what are the potential we have. Listening from the experts is something which is missing in Mizoram since we do not have much of experts when it comes to the Olympics.

With this vision we started this sports conclave.

Do you think the ideas you gathered from here can be taken forward and implemented in a more fruitful way?

We are going to have a vision document after this. We will carefully prepare a vision document after consulting the professionals and the experts.

Then, with 2036 in mind, we want to have a proper vision document from Mizoram. What Mizoram can do, the other bigger states can do it better. With that, if all states are serious about the 2036 project, then definitely India can do much better.

But as of now, the current sports scenario in India and where we stand in the Olympics is not up to the mark. A big country like India, a powerful country like India, with such a huge population can do much better. But we need a collective effort.

What we can do in Mizoram sports conclave or what will be our vision document, the other states can also do it. This is not used to being done at the grass-roots level. And there is a lot of talent; you can tap both the interest and talent and take it forward.

Talent identification programme in the grass-roots is what is needed at the moment. So, I have the plan. We already sent a project to the government of Mizoram. If the government approves, we want to go to each and every village to start grass-roots level coaching.

Because the sportspersons, I mean, the so-called successful sportspersons in Mizoram, they were never coached when they were young. They were just fortunate enough to learn at the right place at the right time where they were conducting some competitions. But grass-roots coaching was missing all those years.

Even now the government has started some non-residential sports training centers. But we are not serious enough because until and unless you are serious in your talent identification programme, you are missing lots of talent. So, in the next five years, we are going to do lots of talent scouting in Mizoram.

Do you think exposure to bigger leagues, suppose inviting bigger leagues or some kind of national activity or international activity can also boost sports here?

Very much. If we get the opportunity to host the National Games, that will really help. But the infrastructure, not only the sports infrastructure, which we have in the state; we do not have that (kind of) potential to host the National Games as of now.

But yes, hosting a National Games will boost (sports). Assam is bidding for the National Games 2026. If it could be, let’s say, for example, (we are able) to co-host some of the disciplines, I just shared that with the Assam Sports Minister also.

We had started this during the Khelo India University Games. All the seven Northeastern states, they are hosting at least one or two disciplines.

The closing ceremeony of the Khelo India University Games 2024, which was held in the seven Northeast states from February 19 to 29, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI

So, in India, not many states have the potential to host the National Games. If one can host it and if we can co-host some of the disciplines, that itself will really boost. 

Do you have any disciplines in mind so that you can develop those here?

Yeah, we do have some in mind. To start with, weightlifting, table tennis, judo, karate, taekwondo, badminton, boxing, shooting and wrestling. There are some sports in which the ranking of India is not very far away from the world (standard). But there are sports in which even though we are trying our best in India, but from the from the world ranking point of view, we are nowhere to be seen.

For the Olympics, we should concentrate on sports in which India has potential, and for Mizoram, we can compete in the sports in which we can start competing with the rest of the states. That is how I look at this because we cannot touch all the sports.

We do not have the potential. We don’t have the budget for that also. We have to be selective in it. But definitely, we want to concentrate on the sports in which we feel we are good at. We will speak to the experts, of course, and we will include that in our vision document as well.

Do you think sports can also boost tourism in the state?

Very much. Mizoram is one of the least visited states in the country, but we have lots of tourism potential. What I feel is that if we can consistently host some sporting activities such as this, we can have people from other states visiting us.

Aizawl FC playing in the I-League itself in football is a big boost for tourism. Because every year, they will have to host at least a minimum of 13 or 14 teams. They are coming in a squad of 30-35. That sometimes during the days of the (teams from) Mumbai or Bengal (playing), they used to come to Mizoram with their friends.

FILE PHOTO: Aizawl FC team members pose for a group photograph. | Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT/The Hindu

That itself will boost tourism in Mizoram. We have a presence in the national media, which is really important. Without sports, it’s very difficult to have a presence in the national media. What my Chief Minister says is that it is not really big news for the other states. But what my athletes can do in Mizoram, if my athletes keep on getting medals in the national arena, that is when people will start giving attention.

I used to say this: When Jeje or Chhangte score a goal for India, it’s headlines in the national newspaper. And other than, that it’s very, very difficult to get Mizoram in the headlines. 

Do you think certain non-traditional sports, such as BMX cycling, skateboarding, breaking, which have entered the Olympics, where your state may have the potential and there is no challenge of getting a big playground, can also be tapped and promoted here?

We have started taking these sports as a hobby. But to make it professional and to make it an Olympic or Asian Games potential sports, it will take a long while. But we have to start it, we just cannot neglect all these sports because as a nation, we need to start concentrating in those so-called small sports.

These are sports which are not very popular worldwide also. That means we have less challenges. So we speak about sports which we love. But those are the sports which the other nation also loves. That means we have lots of challenges. We have to be very careful.

I urge the Sports Ministry and the Sports Authority of India also to pick carefully what are the sports in which we need to concentrate and what are the sports in which we have potential instead of touching all the sports.

We have to study the history of the sports and we need to include sports science as well. We have to look all this very carefully. Do our genetics support these sports? That is also one thing which we need to concentrate on.