It's a match: India and Australia kickstart new sports partnership
India and Australia has agreed a partnership which aims at increasing cooperation in sports, in the presence of visiting prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
Australia and India launch sports agreement
Turnbull said that as part of the new partnership, Victoria University and the University of Canberra would work with India to assist in the establishment of a National Sports University, similar to the Australian Institute of Sport. Indian sports minister Vijay Goel was also present.
According to the deal, it will advance Indian and Australian cooperation in four areas of sports: athlete and coach training and development, sport science, sport governance and integrity, and grassroots participation. Raising the profile of sports will also lead to economic benefits, such as attracting sponsorship.
Vijay Goel, said: “We have a lot to learn and share with Australia in the field of sports. The India-Australia Sports Partnership would facilitate exchange of athletes, coaches, technical officials and sports scientists between the two countries.
India has started taking sports as a very important component of public health management, as well as education.
We have launched a major grassroots programme ‘Khelo India’ for developing a sporting culture at grass-roots level. We are planning to introduce sports as a compulsory subject in schools,” he added.
As a result, a 'National Sports Talent Identification and Development Portal' would be launched shortly, he said.
Turnbull and Goel also met with some young girls from Mumbai’s slums who are being taught to play sports by Apnalaya, an organisation with which Tendulkar’s mother-in-law Annabel Mehta is associated.
Concluding his short four-day visit, Turnbull was in praise of India and its economy. He mentioned that India is now enormously important in the region and added: “My trip has been all about deepening more engaged collaboration between Australia and India in the fields of economics, sports, health, science and education.”