Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the setting up of a task force which will help to plan for the “effective participation” of Indian sportspersons in the next three Olympics, to be held in 2020, 2024 and 2028. The task force - which will include experts from both within the country and abroad - will prep an overall strategy for sports facilities, training and selection of athletes for the next three Olympics. India’s gymnastics star Dipa Karmakar has welcomed Prime Minister’s announcement of setting up a task force to prepare an action plan for the next three Olympic Games. “I want to thank (Narendra Modi) sir. I hope we get many medals in the coming Olympics. Results will surely be really good,” Karmakar told media. The 23-year-old, hailing from Agartala, missed the bronze medal at the recently concluded Rio Olympics by 0.150 points.

“Mr. Modi wants the task force in place with a very long-term plan for three Olympics, because he wants to break the myopia with regard to training for a premier sporting event like the Olympics. He is very clear that whatever is required in terms of sports infrastructure from the government is provided well in time. It is clear to him that champions are reared in generational terms,” said an official. The vision was apparent when at the request of Sachin Tendulkar, asking the PM to talk about Indian athletes in his Independence Day speech, Modi did not wait for August 15 and tweeted, “I appreciate the thought of @sachin_rt but I want to add-why wait for 15th August to speak about the subject. I want to do so now.”