Tech-driven sports

A sports stack can help produce world class athletes

How Technology Can Turn Olympic Dreams into Reality

India won the rights to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad, a moment of celebration tinged with uncomfortable questions. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, the nation slipped to 71st place in the medal standings, a precipitous drop from 48th at Tokyo 2020. For a country of 1.4 billion people preparing to welcome the world's athletes, this paradox is as urgent as it is familiar.

The National Sports Governance Act, passed in August 2025, represents the most significant structural reform in Indian sports history. Coming as the nation bids to host the 2036 Olympics, this legislation couldn't be more timely. The question is no longer whether India can build world-class stadiums, the real question is whether India can build world-class athletes.

 The Missing Link

Nations that dominate Olympic sport share a common trait: systematic, long-term athlete development. They identify talent early, provide holistic support spanning training to mental health, and maintain transparency where merit, not patronage, determines opportunity.

India has traditionally lacked this coherence. Promising athletes have emerged despite the system, not because of it. The result: moments of individual brilliance punctuated by systemic underperformance.

The new Act changes this fundamentally. By establishing clear governance structures, athlete welfare safeguards, and accountability measures, India has created the legal foundation for a modern sporting ecosystem. The National Sports Board gains authority to recognise sports organisations and conduct athlete welfare inquiries. A National Sports Tribunal will provide independent dispute resolution. The Safe Sports Policy framework addresses protection of women and minor athletes, a crucial reform where safeguards have been woefully inadequate.

The Digital Leapfrog

But legislation alone won't win medals. The real work lies in building digital systems that translate legal frameworks into sporting success. This is where India must leapfrog global leaders.

UK Sport ties funding to performance targets. Australia integrates grassroots participation with elite pathways. The U.S. provides centralised athlete services within strong ethics frameworks. These models work, but they were designed for smaller populations in an analogue era.

India's advantage lies in its proven mastery of digital public infrastructure. Just as UPI democratized digital payments for hundreds of millions, a Sports Stack could democratize access to world-class athletic development.

The components are clear: unified athlete IDs ensuring every talent is visible regardless of location; interoperable databases breaking down bureaucratic silos; AI-powered analytics optimising training and minimising injury; and transparent portals making every rupee traceable.

The technology exists. The governance framework provides the legal mandate. What's needed is political will to build these systems as digital public goods, open, interoperable, and accessible to all.

Five Years to Deliver

The 2030 Commonwealth Games provide a five-year runway to operationalise these structures and demonstrate readiness for the 2036 Olympics bid.

Success requires moving beyond the infrastructure-heavy approach that characterised the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. India must focus on technology-enabled, athlete-centric systems ensuring no talent is lost and no opportunity wasted.

Imagine mobile technology screening children across every district, feeding data into national databases accessible to coaches and sports scientists. Picture AI platforms analysing performance videos from rural academies with the same rigor as elite training centres. Envision scholarships flowing directly to athletes based on merit, with every transaction publicly auditable.

The challenge isn't technological capability, it's institutional coordination and sustained investment.

Beyond Medal Counts

A technology-enabled sports system demonstrates how digital public infrastructure solves complex coordination problems at scale. It challenges the cricket monoculture absorbing 87% of sports capital. When talent identification and resource allocation are data-driven rather than relationship-driven, emerging sports get fairer access. When analytics are democratised, athletes from non-traditional backgrounds compete on merit.

Most importantly, it offers a template for other sectors. The principles underlying a Sports Stack, unified identity, interoperable databases, transparent allocation, AI-powered decision support, apply equally to education, healthcare, or public service delivery.

As the sporting world watches, the stadiums will impress and opening ceremonies will dazzle. But the true measure of success will be whether India builds digital systems producing consistent excellence, Olympics after Olympics.

The National Sports Governance Act provides the legal foundation. India's digital infrastructure expertise offers the technical capability. The hosting opportunities create the urgency. What remains is execution, translating policy into code, governance frameworks into digital platforms, and potential into results.

If India achieves this, it won't just win more medals. It will pioneer a new model of technology-enabled sports governance that developing nations worldwide can adopt. Olympic glory will become the norm, powered by the same digital public goods philosophy that transformed India's financial and civic infrastructure.

The race has begun. India has five years to build its Sports Stack before the world arrives in Ahmedabad. The opportunity is historic, not just to host great games, but to fundamentally reimagine how nations develop athletic excellence in the digital age.

Originally published as an Op-ed in The Hindu BL on January 6, 2026.