Blogging Matters!!! : TURF 2011 - The Report, Day I

Day 47.

Good evening friends and welcome to yet another acutely objective report edition of BM!!!. And, I will equip y'all with the session by session recap of the events that transpired at the 3rd Global Sports Summit 'TURF 2011', organized by FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry).
So, without further ado, let's get the report rolling now, shall we? -

Introduction/Inauguration - (Key Remarks) :-
1.) Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Secretary General, FICCI :

• Purpose of Summit is to try & foster greater Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the country. Until Corporate Sector comes in a much bigger way, sports won't develop. Priorities given to sports must be higher in India. Smaller countries like West Indies, East Germany, have given so much emphasis to sports which provided them national identity.
• There is a huge sports infrastructure deficit in India. Like any other infrastructure for eg; railways, etc, sports infrastructure must be given equal emphasis.
• Sports Development won't happen until you involve private sector. Sport is not maximizing profits only, but National cause also.

2.) Ms. Lata Usendi, Minister of State, Women and Child Development, Sports and Youth Affairs, Chhattisgarh :

• Over the past 10 years, athletes from Chhattisgarh have earned about 150 gold medals. We've strived to provide better facilities in hockey. We've tried to colligate sporting world with corporates.
• We've come forward with PPP in the field of Boxing. And, the 37th National Games will also be held in Chhattisgarh. We've created new programmes for the development of sports.

3.) Brig. K P Singh Deo (Retd), Chairman, Sports Development Commission, India Olympic Association :

• One is astounded at the phase of development in Chhattisgarh. We were surprised by the revenue generated by Chhattisgarh in tribal areas in sports.
• Our programme 'Vision 2020', at IOA, in Sports Commision has found universal acceptance. First by FICCI, second by Ministry of Sports and just yesterday by the Planning Commission.
• The Common Wealth Games (CWG) 2010 had glimpses of PPP. We need to do analysis. This partnership can be very useful. The internal investment in CWG has been very good. The return on investment done by the Government, Sports Authority of India (SAI), has given 101% back, but it has fallen short for IOA with 125 medals.

4.) H.E. Shekhar Dutt, Governor, Chhattisgarh :

• We need to have a large mass of human resources developed. Sports is a hugely useful tool of management. India needs to have good managers who can lead in all the aspects.
• Sport is an organized activity. It cannot be achieved without all ingredients set out to form an industry. Sport is also a huge business, a multi-million dollar business.There has to be convergence of the corporate spirit with development of sports.
• India has to become a destination for medical tourism. We find that Sachin Tendulkar or Zaheer Khan, go for surgical repairs outside. Why can't we have eminent sport surgeons in India ? The time has come to take initiatives to set up sports science institutions in India, to cater Indian and world market.

Session 1 : Public Private Partnership - Developing Sports Infrastructure : ( Key Remarks)

[Moderator - Mr. Rishi Narain, M D, Rishi Narain Golf Management Pvt. Ltd.]

1.) Mr. Desh Deepak Verma, Director General SAI :

• In our Indian context, Sport structure is a support and facilitation service. Time has come to attain sports seriously as a business.
• In CWG, one of the criticisms was about the leagacy use of our sporting infrastructure. For using the infrastructure and also creating it, the role of private sector is very important.
• One issue in PPP is use of stadia infrastructre for non-sporting activities as many times it is done in the name of creating revenue generation, but sometimes such activities take over sporting activities.

2.) Mr. Tushar Pandey, President & Country Head, Strategic Initiatives, Yes Bank :

• Sport is a multi-billion dollar industry and is viewed a major entertainment venue. There are gaps in policies across the states in India. Lack of accountability plagues most sports authorities. Apart from some states like Gujarat and Rajasthan, PPP for infrastructure and development has still not been integrated in sport policies of states.
• Despite being a state subject, the allocation from centre is decreasing over the past 4 years. There are also several impediments to development of sports in India, like; sports research hasn't been developed as a separate department in the Ministry of Sports.
• Till you develop infrastructure, athletes cannot become the centre point. So, the government should not talk of medals without infrastructure.

3.) Mr. Andrew James, Director,Asia and Australia Populous :

• The difference between what is happening in Delhi and London is the planning for legacy. The key is that you have to plan the stadium and then built it.
• So, a part of legacy is to try and assess what buildings will be used after the games. So, temporary construction is also a key.

Session 2 : Triggering Investment in Sports and Creating Sports Culture -

Moderator : Mr. Yogesh Kocchar, Director, Microsoft Corporation India.

(Key Remarks -)

1.) Mr. Tarun Dewan, Executive Director, Sports Goods Exports Promotion Council : -

• Today, 70% of trade happens in sport apparels. There is sport equipment made in India of world level. Why investment in manufacturing of sporting equipment hasn't proven to be lucrative, we have to see that.
• Sporting culture needs to be developed at the grass root level. Sport has to be treated at par with health. Any state doing investment in sports, in the long-run their expenditure in  health will come down.

2.) Mr. Robert G Davies, Consultant, British College of Sports -

• India has a massive target of getting 500 million people trained. We have to understand the importance of sports in terms of social development, in terms of helping India's skill agenda, in terms of corporates.
• Another important thing is starting sports education. The key is human capital. In terms of development of sports we should be like farmers and plant the seeds. So, the key is human resource development.

3.) Mr. Yogesh Kocchar -

• About 80% of sports persons coming today are from rural India. If you go to New York you find football jerseys, memorabilia that helps in promoting sports culture. In India, not even 10% is done with cricket.
• The answer lies in packaging. We need to package goods to sell it in new areas.

Session 3 : Sports as a full time career : -
Moderator - Mr. Rajpal Singh, Additional Director, FICCI :
(Key Remarks) -
1.) Mr. Gurap Singh :

• Until and unless India makes an environment where coaches parents and children come together, winning in Olympics will remain a dream.
• We should also teach our players how to manage stress. What type of diets to be taken? They should be provided with world class infrastructure.

2.) Mr. P D Sharma - President Rashtriya Life Saving Society :

• There is a need to make parents realize that sports is necessary for a child's sound body. Sport gets discipline, it gets time management.
• It needs a lot of money. Our training is equipment oriented. You need safety boats, safety lifeguards. This is a new kind of game, which is more of a new opportunity.

3.) Mr. Ben John Gittus - Senior Programme Manager, UK Sector Skill Council on Sports :

• We need to find out how many organizations, level of degree courses exist in India. Sports needs to be recognized as a subject in schools, in higher education, sports medicine.
• Next thing is job creation, job development around athletes. There are many other jobs than coaching which can be developed around athletes. If you create a sector you also create conditions for the growth of sports.

Session 4 - Making Sports a State Asset :
Moderator - Mr. Siddhanth Aney, Senior Correspondent, Sports Illustrated India :
(Key Remarks) -

1.) Mr. Hakimuddin Habibulla, Founder, Winning Matters -

• We recognize that each state plays a key role. Each state needs to be seen like a nation. We have 35 states and Union Territories and if each of them could give us 1 Olympic medal, we would be among the top 3 countries of medal tally by 2020 Olympic Games.
• Sport is a state subject in India. World class sporting structure could help create revenue. So, size of a state doesn't matter. Ex - Manipur is number 1 in National Games including all sports. So, we have to see how states can use assets, lands.

2.) Mr. H S Kingra, IFS, Chairman & MD : -

• States are divided into 2 components, sports for masses and sports for excellence. Don't have any problem with Chief Ministers being head of sports, bu they should not put their own vested interests forth. Infrastructure should be in vicinity of states.
• There is a village where there is a FIH approved hockey ground, but no one is willing to play. Let us tell the political master, nobody should underestimate the power of states. Sports is a state subject and will remain.

3.) Mr. G P Singh, IPS Director Sports, Chhattisgarh : -

• Whatever budget is given to you, you have to use it in the right way. Most of the time when we start building infrastructure we spend money on unncessary elements. Money spent on ground is zero. This is due to technical incompetence.
• Make a climate, where we recognize the importance of sports. In Chhattisgarh, three things can be seen.- Training, Infrastructure and Creating Sports Eco-System. Infrastructure wise we are very weak and talent wise we have tribal belt.
• Sports do not mean galleries. It means right grounds. We have 1 course on infrastructure front. We are focusing on low-cost budgeting. The construction agency sent me a budget of 40 crores and the financial committee cut it down to 10.5 crores.

4.) Dr. Amit Mallick, CEO & Secretary, National Games Secretariat, Kerala : -

• All the places where sporting infrastructure construction takes place, we make sure that management persons come in. So, management is very important in construction.