The GoSports Foundation (GSF) is an independent, donor-funded

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

venture, working towards securing funds and professional expertise for some of India's junior

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

and

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

athletes. Established in 2008, it has worked with numerous athletes from across multiple Olympic and Paralympic disciplines through its scholarship programmes. Joined by one of the only two Olympic gold medallists from India, Abhinav Bindra, former

Indian cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the Internationa ...

captain

Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...

, and

All England Open The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premie ...

badminton champion

Pullela Gopichand Pullela Gopichand (born 16 November 1973) is a former Indian badminton player. Currently, he is the Chief National Coach for the India national badminton team. He won the All England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, becoming the second Ind ...

on its Board of Advisors, GoSports Foundation's mission is to empower India's future Olympians.

Mission

The mission of GoSports Foundation is to empower India's future Olympians.

Programs

The GoSports Foundation Programs are structured as part of a three-level pyramid with each successive higher level aimed at enabling young Indians to start, stay in, and succeed at sport. ACE Management Programme is a high-performance elite athlete management program, in which athletes are offered pro bono advisory and consultation services by the GoSports Foundation's panel of experts, consisting of nutritionists, psychologists, fitness trainers, lawyers, media, public relations experts, etc. PACE Scholarships are offered to promising junior athletes in the age group of 13–21 years, from Olympic and Paralympic disciplines in their run-up to graduating to senior competition. PACE Scholars receive both monetary and non-monetary support. PACER Projects are the GoSports Foundation's special projects aimed at research, knowledge management and personalized athlete-oriented interventions. Special Projects: The Rahul Dravid Athlete Mentorships for athletes in Olympic and Paralympic disciplines.

and his team of experts personally advise chosen athletes through the year and mentor them through their sporting journeys. Shooting development programmes in association wit
Abhinav Bindra Foundation
Abhinav Bindra Foundation and GoSports Foundation conduct joint programs for the development of junior Indian shooters. The programs include scholarships for selected shooters, development workshops for coaches and shooters, equipment support, as well as an opportunity for select junior shooters to receive one-on-one mentorship from Abhinav Bindra. The GoSports Foundation Athletes’ Conclave is held with an objective to develop inspiration, promote knowledge and bonding among the athletes. The Conclave features seminars from some of India's leading sports industry experts, as well as successful sportspersons. Coach Education Programmes for Badminton coaches are held every year in association with the Badminton Association of India. The programs are aimed to align the badminton training programs all across India to fall in line with the National Training Program for all age groups. This ensures that a larger talent pool is fed into the national circuit, and creates a pool of well-informed coaches in different parts of the country.

Athlete achievements

Some of the achievements of the athletes supported by GoSports Foundation: # GSF had 5 athletes representing

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

: Sharath Gayakwad (Para-Swimming), Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai (both Table tennis), Kidambi Srikanth and RMV Gurusaidutt (both

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

), the latter winning the bronze medal in the

Men's Singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

category. # Sumit Antil won the gold medal in men's javelin throw F64 category at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

. # Swimmers

Virdhawal Khade Virdhawal Vikram Khade (born 29 August 1991) ( mr, विरधवल खाडे) is an Indian swimmer. He competed in the men's 50, 100, and 200 meters Freestyle swimming events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, setting an Indian nat ...

, Sandeep Sejwal (

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

) and Gagan Ullalmath (

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

) represented India at the Olympic Games. # Para-swimmer

Sharath Gayakwad Sharath M. Gayakwad is an Indian Paralympic swimmer from Bangalore. At the 2014 Asian Games, he broke P.T. Usha's record for most number of medals by an Indian at any multi-discipline event by winning 6 medals. Coming from a modest financial bac ...

was India's lone representative in swimming at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. # Soumyajit Ghosh became India's youngest men's table tennis player to qualify for the Olympic Games. He represented India at the London 2012 Games. # Badminton player

Srikanth Kidambi Srikanth Kidambi (born 7 February 1993) is an Indian badminton player. A former world no. 1, Kidambi was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award, in 2018. and the Arjuna award in 2015. In 2021, he became the first Indian t ...

became the first Indian to win a Grand Prix Gold event outside India when he won the Thailand Open in 2013. # Golfer S. Chikkarangappa turned professional in 2013, and even went on to win a PGTI event in his rookie year. # Heptathlete Swapna Barman won gold at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

and placed first in the

Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

at the

2017 Asian Athletics Championships The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6 to 9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. Bhubaneswar was the third Indian city to host Asian Championships ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

GoSports Foundation Website
Sports organisations of India Non-profit organisations based in India Sports charities Recipients of the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar