Mandaviya asserts India's operational readiness for international sports events; launches quiz on budget

New Delhi: Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday asserted that India has displayed "operational readiness" by hosting 45 international competitions covering over 20 disciplines in the last one year, positioning the nation as a "reliable destination" for the 2036 Olympic Games.

Mandaviya cited endorsements from International Federations to validate his point even though the country has also faced fair amount of criticism for organisational issues during the India Open of badminton last month.

India will be hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad, which is also bidding to host the 2036 Olympics.

"India has hosted nearly 45 international competitions across over 20 sports disciplines in the last one year, spanning Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth core sports," Mandaviya told reporters.

This "sustained hosting record demonstrates India's capacity to deliver technically complex, multi-venue, broadcast-intensive events with large international participation," he added.

In 2025, India hosted the Asian Aquatics Championships (Ahmedabad), World Para Athletics Championships (New Delhi), Kho Kho World Cup, FIH Pro League, ISSF Junior World Cup, BWF World Junior Championships, and the UCI Pune Grand Tour cycling event.

"This sustained hosting experience directly strengthens India's preparedness for the Commonwealth Games 2030, already awarded to the country, with demonstrated success across CWG disciplines, venues, and international federation coordination.

"Collectively, India's hosting track record and repeated validation by senior IF officials align seamlessly with India's aspiration to host the Olympic Games 2036, positioning the nation as a reliable, globally respected, and future-ready destination for the world's largest sporting events," he said.

Mandaviya also plans to bring out schemes to boost India's sports goods manufacturing sector, which as been given a first-time allocation of Rs 500 crore in the union budget.

"Right now we are importing 80 to 85 per cent of our sports goods. I will bring schemes so that we can manufacture sports goods in India and don't have to depend on imports," he said.

MY Bharat Budget Quest

Mandaviya also launched MY Bharat Budget Quest 2026, a nationwide youth-centric initiative aimed at enhancing the understanding of the Union Budget and making budgetary provisions more accessible, relatable and citizen-centric.

It is a national-level online quiz on the Union Budget, open to youth registered on the MY Bharat portal. The minister said that this competition will start on the MY Bharat platform (https://mybharat.gov.in/) from Tuesday.

The deadline for participation is February 17.

Top performers from each state and Union Territory will will take part in the second round from February 17 to March 3, which will be an essay-writing round.

In the essay round, youth will receive eight topics related to the Union Budget aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat.

Evaluation of essays will be undertaken between March 3 and 10 and state/UT-wise merit lists will be announced on March 10.

State and UT-wise winners will subsequently get an opportunity to participate in an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the vision of a Viksit Bharat Budget.