India Would Be in Top-ten List at 2028 Olympics: Rijiju

Panaji, Jan 18 (PTI) Stating that Olympics 2028 was the "actual target" for the country, Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju said here on Saturday that India would make it to the top ten countries in the medals' tally at the Los Angeles games.

For the coming Tokyo games, India has to rely on "existing talent" but the "actual target" beyond that was the Los Angeles Olympics four years later, he said.

The Minister of State of Youth Affairs and Sports was speaking after inaugurating four stadiums in the run-up to the National Games to be held in Goa in October-November 2020.

"India has 20 per cent of the young population of the world. Every fifth youth is Indian. Can we be proud to win one medal and two medals in Olympics? We cannot accept this situation....that is why we have prepared a roadmap," he said.

"For Tokyo 2020, we are ready but we have limitations. We have existing talent...We are hoping that Tokyo 2020 will be best-ever Olympics for India but beyond that the actual target is Los Angeles Olympics in 2028," Rijiju said.

"We will not be going for one or two medals, we will be in top ten in the world, that is our preparation," he said.

The Union minister also opined that to achieve this, "incremental improvement" would not suffice. "We should have a quantum jump," he said.

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