Pullela Gopichand — India needs to learn from the West on blending sports and education
Former badminton player Pullela Gopichand said that India cannot afford to have its education system and sports going in different direction if it aims to aid the holistic development of its youth.
Speaking at the Sportstar Focus Bihar Conclave at the Taj City Centre in Patna on Sunday, Gopichand said,” Sport and education fundamentally complement each other. With an aspiration for Vikasit Bharat, with our youth population, what are we looking at? here is what we are looking at with our youth. We are looking at one-third of kids who get breathless in any physical activity. Six in 10 kids have flat feet and knock knees. One in three kids is obese, 80 per cent of school kids are not able to run 400 metres. This is the reality of Indian youth.”
Gopichand pointed out a change in lifestyle that has been chipping away at the fitness standard of India’s youth.
“The structure of life 30-40 years back was such that we did not need physical activity. Even before I played professional sport, I would spend hours playing outside. I would walk to school, there was plenty of natural activity. In the past few years, we have grown as a nation. But physically, we have gone down. It is hence important to get structured sport into the lives of our kids,” he said.
Gopichand proposed a sporting pathway that could bring more students under the umbrella and improve participation.
“If I have a dream, it is that every kid must participate in physical activity. They should play multiple sports. They should start with a sport at age nine and play it till class 10. Then they should take a realistic view of what they can become. If they can become a world-class athlete, they should continue. Around 90 to 95 per cent talent, we can filter out with sport science and a coach’s eye. If they have that potential to continue then we should ensure they continue to participate. With our Government’s schemes over the last 10-12 years, those pathways already exist. This is the crux of what sport for all would mean.
But the All-England winner was quick to add that even those filtered out should continue with sport as a hobby.
“Education and sport should blend so that universities can handhold them in giving them flexible course options and timings to allow them to participate. Unfortunately, the reality is that only a miniscule proportion can play professionally. The rest have to be taken care of. That system has to ensure they are benefitting,” Gopichand said.
Only if sport is introduced in early on can a kid truly attain a holistic education. “All kids need to be participating in sport not because they will be champions but because they can be the best version of themselves. Academics do no neccessarily complete that education.
“The western world has learned to do both. We have come up in sport and need to learn how to do that. Sport needs to be a core subject like mathematics, physics and chemistry,” he said.
The Sportstar ‘Focus Bihar’ Conclave is presented by the Bihar Sports Authority and Department of Sports, Government of Bihar. The Associate Sponsor is Indian Oil Corporation Limited, while State Bank of India is the Banking Partner.
Published on Mar 22, 2026