Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday, 17 July 2026, highlighted India's growing sports cooperation with Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand, framing it as a key pillar in the country's ambition to become a global sports superpower ahead of the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics.

Posting in Hindi on X, Rijiju wrote: 'Bharat khel mahashakti banne ki raah par!' ('India is on the path to becoming a sports superpower!'), adding that expanding bilateral sports cooperation and world-class training are giving Indian athletes 'a new flight.' He specifically cited the Khelo India scheme and the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) as the twin engines driving this ambition.

Context

Rijiju's post comes as India's sports diplomacy has gathered pace over recent years, with bilateral agreements covering coaching exchanges, high-performance centres, and athlete training camps. The minister tagged the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the official Khelo India handle, and India Sports in his post, signalling institutional coordination behind the messaging. The hashtags #ViksitBharat and #TeamIndia link the sporting push to the government's broader Viksit Bharat 2047 development vision.

Policy Backdrop

The Khelo India scheme, launched in 2017, was designed to build a pyramid of sports development stretching from school-level participation to elite competition, with talent identification and infrastructure creation at its core. Complementing it, the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), introduced in 2014, provides targeted financial and logistical support — including international training exposure and specialised coaching — to athletes identified as realistic medal prospects at the Olympics and Paralympics.

India has maintained sports cooperation agreements with Australia since 2018, with a renewed agreement in 2023 focusing on training facilities and coach exchange. The government formally announced its intent to bid for the 2036 Olympics during the 2023 National Sports Summit, a commitment that has since shaped several policy and diplomatic decisions in the sports sector.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of these programmes are Indian athletes across disciplines who gain access to superior coaching infrastructure, sports science support, and international competitive exposure that was historically difficult to secure domestically. Sports federations, state governments running Khelo India academies, and the Sports Authority of India are the institutional actors responsible for translating these bilateral partnerships into on-ground training outcomes.

For India's sporting ecosystem, the partnerships with Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand — countries with established high-performance cultures in specific disciplines — are intended to address longstanding gaps in coaching depth and sports-science capability. The 2030 Commonwealth Games are seen as an intermediate benchmark before the higher-stakes target of a strong medal haul at the 2036 Olympics, for which India is actively pursuing a hosting bid.

What's Next

Parliamentary debates on the annual sports budget and any formal announcement of India's 2036 Olympic bid committee will be closely watched as indicators of how substantively these ambitions are being institutionalised. The Sports Authority of India is expected to roll out further details on international training tie-ups under the TOPS framework. With the 2030 Commonwealth Games now within the four-year preparation window, performance benchmarks for TOPS-supported athletes are likely to come under increased scrutiny in the months ahead.