A Nationwide Athlete Management Vision within the Framework of the National Sports Governance Act, 2025

India, a nation of over a billion people, has long aspired to make its mark on the global sporting stage. While moments of triumph have inspired collective pride, the country’s overall Olympic performance remains modest when compared to nations with far smaller populations. This paradox has often been attributed not to a lack of talent, but to the absence of a systemic, long-term approach to athlete development.

The passage of the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 marks a watershed moment in India’s sporting journey. With governance structures, athlete welfare safeguards, and accountability measures now firmly established, India has for the first time created the foundation for a modern sporting ecosystem. The challenge—and opportunity—lies in building on this legal framework with a comprehensive nationwide athlete management system that can translate governance reform into sporting excellence.

Why Athlete Management Matters

Sporting success at the highest levels is not coincidental; it is the product of years of structured investment in athletes. Nations that consistently excel at the Olympics rely on systems that:

• Identify talent early, regardless of geography or background.

• Provide holistic support, spanning physical training, nutrition, sports science, and mental health.

• Ensure continuity, with athletes progressing smoothly from grassroots to elite levels.

• Maintain transparency and fairness, so that merit, not patronage, determines opportunity.

In India, these elements have traditionally existed in isolation, often dependent on local initiatives, private academies, or sporadic government programs. The result has been fragmentation and inconsistency. A nationwide athlete management system can change this by offering a coherent, digitally enabled structure that binds together talent pathways, welfare mechanisms, and governance oversight.

Building on the Governance Foundation

With the Act in place, India now has statutory clarity on governance, ethics, and accountability in sport. This creates the legitimacy required to introduce athlete management systems that are credible and enforceable. The Act’s emphasis on athlete welfare, safe sport, dispute resolution, and transparency aligns naturally with the pillars of athlete management:

• Talent Pathways: National and state federations, under oversight, can integrate a centralised database to ensure that every promising athlete is tracked and supported.

• Athlete Welfare: The Safe Sport Authority and related mechanisms can be reinforced by digital tools for monitoring health, injury, and mental well-being.

• Coaching Standards: Governance mandates can be operationalised through online benchmarking and monitoring platforms.

• Athlete Voice: With representation mandated in governance structures, feedback loops can be embedded directly into athlete management platforms.

• Fairness and Grievance Redressal: The Act’s ombudsman and arbitration tribunal functions can be linked to digital systems that allow athletes to raise issues without fear.

The Role of Digital Public Goods

India’s transformation in finance through IndiaStack offers a blueprint. A similar digital stack for sports could include:

• Unified Athlete ID linked to Aadhaar, ensuring every athlete is visible in the system.

• Centralised Athlete Database interoperable across federations and states.

• Performance Analytics Platforms powered by AI to optimise training and minimise injury risk.

• Sports Science and Medicine Networks connecting research to practice.

• Resource Allocation Portals to make funding and support transparent and traceable.

• Communication Frameworks linking athletes, coaches, federations, and government seamlessly.

Such digital public goods would allow India to scale athlete management across its diverse geography, ensuring inclusion and efficiency.

Learning from Global Models

Countries that dominate Olympic sport have long relied on structured athlete management:

• UK Sport ties funding directly to performance, ensuring accountability and clear targets.

• Australian Sports Commission (ASC) integrates grassroots participation with elite pathways, with strong emphasis on sports science.

• US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) provides centralised athlete services backed by safe sport and ethics frameworks.

India’s reforms echo these models but must go further by embedding digital systems to match its scale and complexity. In doing so, India has the opportunity not just to emulate but to innovate, creating a model tailored to its unique demographic and social context.

A Nation-Building Opportunity

The passage of the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 has removed long-standing obstacles to reform. The moment is ripe to complement governance with an operational backbone—a nationwide athlete management system that ensures no talent is lost, no athlete is left unsupported, and no opportunity is wasted.

This is not merely about winning more medals. It is about building a sporting culture of fairness, excellence, and pride. A well-structured athlete management system, grounded in law and enabled by digital public goods, can turn India’s vast potential into consistent Olympic success.

If India can achieve this, Olympic glory will no longer be a rare exception—it will be the norm, and a reflection of the nation’s commitment to its athletes and its future.