News18 India’s ‘Jazba’ brings sporting community together in Delhi

NEW DELHI: News18 India brought India’s sporting community together in Delhi with Jazba: Jadon Se Shikhar Tak, a day-long platform focused on the people, policies and pathways shaping the country’s sporting ambitions.

Held on 18 September, the event brought together sportspersons, coaches, policymakers and industry voices for conversations around India’s evolving sporting culture, the challenges facing athletes and what it will take to build a stronger pipeline of talent.

From grassroots discovery to international competition, discussions explored the support systems, infrastructure and opportunities needed to help athletes make the leap from potential to podium.

A central theme of Jazba was the need to widen India’s sporting ecosystem beyond medal-winning moments.

Coaches including Uttam Majumdar, professional cricket coach; Uday Vishwanath Deshpande, Indian Mallakhamb coach; Jwala Singh, global cricket coach; Jagdish Kaliraman, wrestling coach; and Gaurav Khanna, head coach, Indian National Para-badminton team, shared experiences from years of identifying and developing sporting talent.

The conversations also touched on India’s Olympic ambitions, the changing sports economy, technology and innovation, and the growing role of sport in the country’s cultural and economic landscape.

In a recorded message, Mansukh Mandaviya, minister of labour and employment and youth affairs & sports, Government of India, congratulated News18 India on the initiative and called for collective efforts to create an India where every child gets an opportunity to play, talent is recognised and sportspersons receive respect.

He also highlighted the importance of building a fitter and healthier India, linking sporting participation with a wider national push towards fitness and wellbeing.

Reflecting on his tenure and his vision for India’s sporting ecosystem, Kiren Rijiju, Union Cabinet minister for parliamentary affairs and minority affairs, said the country’s biggest challenge was not simply winning medals but developing a culture around sport.

“In sport, there is really only one goal: to play and to win. But as Sports Minister, my biggest goal was to take sport to the common people,” Rijiju said.

He argued that India has a long sporting tradition but has yet to develop a widespread sporting culture. According to him, countries that consistently perform strongly at the Olympics benefit from broad participation and engagement with sport across society.

“Creating a sporting culture was the biggest challenge for me, and that is what I made my priority,” he added.

The event also turned towards the next generation of cricketing talent, with Shivam Dube discussing young batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi.

Dube described Suryavanshi as a powerful hitter and said he had rarely seen talent of his kind. He also explained that the teenager’s current wait for an opportunity was linked to the form of India’s regular opening batters.

“Vaibhav is a very powerful hitter. I have never seen talent like his,” Dube said, adding that Suryavanshi would have to wait while the established openers continued to perform.

The discussion underscored one of the recurring challenges in elite sport: promising young athletes need not only talent but also the right opportunity and timing to make their mark.

Para-sport and inclusion formed another important part of the day’s conversations. Deepa Malik, Paralympian, Khel Ratna, Padma Shri and Arjuna Awardee, reflected on the progress made in India’s disability sports ecosystem.

Malik pointed to India’s first women’s Paralympic medal in 2016 as a milestone that also exposed the long-standing gaps in opportunities and attitudes towards women in disability sport.

She credited initiatives including the Target Olympic Podium Scheme, Accessible India Campaign and Fit India Movement with helping bring para-athletes further into the country’s sporting policy framework.

She also spoke about the broader social impact of the term Divyang, saying it brought a greater sense of respect and dignity and contributed to changing attitudes towards people with disabilities.

Across the conversations, Jazba: Jadon Se Shikhar Tak kept returning to one broad question: how can India create a stronger and more inclusive pathway for sporting talent?

The discussions covered the people working behind sporting victories, the infrastructure and policy gaps that remain, and the changing economics of sport. They also examined how technology and innovation could help expand participation and create new opportunities.

By bringing athletes, coaches, policymakers and sports industry voices into the same room, News18 India’s Jazba put the spotlight not just on India’s medal winners, but on the wider ecosystem that helps talent move from the grassroots to the global stage.