India and Australia may be fierce rivals on the cricket pitch, but off it they are teaming up to strengthen sports education. The two cricketing giants are now set to deepen their partnership through a proposed joint programme in sports education.
At Khel Connect, a symposium organised by the Australia India Institute and funded by the Australian government’s Department of Education, educators, sporting administrators and industry leaders from both countries met on Monday to discuss closer collaboration in high performance, community engagement and commercial expertise.
“This symposium is really about bringing two forces together by pairing Australia’s deep expertise with India’s scale, ambition and talent,” Australia India Institute CEO Lisa Singh said in her inaugural address.
Sandeep Nanduri IAS, secretary of the Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department, and J. Meghanatha Reddy, member secretary of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, vouched for scouting, coaching and strategic partnerships with regions like Australia to strengthen the state’s existing elite sports pathway. The duo highlighted the government’s role in funding and stressed the need for outside expertise to refine those efforts.
Anupam Goswami, league commissioner of the Pro-Kabaddi League (PKL) and Executive General Manager at Sports Leagues for JioStar, pointed to the PKL’s ‘Melbourne Raid’ event, organised with Victorian stakeholders in late 2024 to take the indigenous Indian sport to a new, interested community.
“As much as innovation is growing, there is a growth in sports consumption tech as well. India can greatly contribute there. It is going to redefine the way we engage with and succeed in sport,” he said, urging stakeholders to harness India’s sports-crazy population for greater commercial benefit.