Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju on Monday said that all the Asian countries must come together to ensure Kabaddi's inclusion in the Olympics.
Rijiju addressed over 700 kabaddi coaches from all over India and from other countries, including Korea and Malayasia at the Online Coaches Knowledge Enhancement session orgsed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
"Kabaddi has already been included in the Asian Games and now, not just India, but all Asian countries must come together to ensure that the sport in included in the Olympics as well. That is our ultimate goal," Rijiju said during the session.
"And to achieve that goal we must improve the standard of the game in India and also ensure that we propagate it across geographical locations in India and the rest of the world," he added.
Rijiju also hailed success of the online workshops for coaches that SAI has been orgsing with National Sporting Federations.
"Everyday about 8000 coaches from 20 sporting disciplines are participating in these daily workshops and upgrading their knowledge about their sport. In the present times this is the largest exercise in the sporting world. I am very happy and proud that this could be achieved," he said.
"This has been possible owing to the support from the federations because officials of SAI, Sports Ministry, NSFs and other stakeholders have a robust working relationship and the success of these workshops can be attributed to that co-operation. The co-operation between all stakeholders is the only way to truly improve the sports ecosystem in the country and to take Indian sport forward," Rijiju added.
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a huge toll on sports across the globe as all the tournaments have either been postponed or cancelled due to the deadly virus.
Talking on the importance of the online workshops, Rijiju said: "I am sure we will win this battle against Covid-19 we would soon be able to go back to the ground to train and play, but till that happens, we will take advantage of the technology available to us. It is very important to keep ourselves updated about national and global practices and rules of a sport. Rules and regulations keep changing and those who do not update themselves will be left behind. We often lose out to teams from the western world because they far ahead in terms of their knowledge of rules. But with these sessions I am sure we will not be left behind."
( With inputs from ANI )