UP Govt Launches ‘One District One Sport’ Scheme to Promote Sports Culture

In his mission to promote sports and sportspersons in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has launched One District One Sport (ODOS), modeled after the government's highly successful One District One Product (ODOP) scheme.

The scheme serves the government's two interconnected goals of promoting sports culture and keeping the state's younger generation healthy and providing a platform for athletes to develop their talents and skills to compete in prestigious national and international championships and win medals.

According to a press release from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), under ODOS, one sport will be identified in each of UP's 75 districts and necessary steps will be taken to find district-specific sport-specific talents and hone their skills to enable them to represent the district, state, national, and international level tournaments and championships.

Because wrestling has a long history in Deoria, Maharajganj, Azamgarh, Chandauli, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Kashi, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Gorakhpur in Purvanchal, the government has made it the ODOS here. Many local wrestlers have even flown the tricolor at national and international competitions.

Even in this day and age of cricket, many of the akhadas here are still wrestling academies. Nagpanchami is an essential day for wrestlers to give their all in the sport. For decades, a prominent wrestling event has been held in the Gorakhnath temple under the patronage of Yogi Adityanath. It is worth noting that Haryana has produced the most medal-winning wrestlers for the country, and the district of Baghpat, which borders Haryana, has wrestling as its ODOS.

The sports of the ten districts have also been changed with the Central Government's approval to include them in the ODOS scheme. These districts' Khelo India Centers are honing sportpersons' talents under the supervision of skilled coaches. The rest will be completed soon with the implementation of the new sports policy.

Mathura (wrestling instead of judo), Ballia, Ambedkar Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, and Fatehpur (athletics instead of badminton), Bahraich (football instead of badminton), Shravasti (kabaddi instead of badminton), Jhansi, Gonda, and Lakhimpur Kheri are among the ten districts where sports have been changed (hockey instead of badminton). Meanwhile, sports talent is being identified and developed.

ODOS Scheme (Sports & District):

• Wrestling: Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Chandauli, Baghpat, Aajgarh, Deoria, Maharajganj

• Athletics: Mainpuri, Firozabad, Jaunpur, Bhadohi, Sambhal, Sitapur, Kasganj, Unnao, Ayodhya, Kaushambi, Etah, Amethi, Rampur, Siddharthnagar, Santakbirnagar, Chitrakoot, Basti, Hamirpur, Hapur, Meerut, Ghazipur, Shamli, Ballia and Muzaffarnagar

• Hockey: Pratapgarh, Mau, Bareilly, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Moradabad, Balrampur, Etawah and Ghaziabad

• Table Tennis: Agra, Kanpur

• Badminton: Aligarh and Gautam Budh Nagar

• Weightlifting: Mirzapur and Bijnor

• Boxing: Bulandshahr and Kushinagar

• Football: Hathras

• Archery: Sonbhadra and Lalitpur 

• Shooting: Banda

• Swimming: Pilibhit

• Kabaddi: Kannauj

• Lawn Tennis: Prayagraj 

"There is a universal rule to nurturing sporting talents - catch them young. The department will ensure that talents related to popular sports in various areas are identified at the appropriate age and receive the best training possible at the district, state, and national levels to improve their performances. The ODOS scheme serves the same purpose. We aim to ensure that, as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath intends, Uttar Pradesh leads the country in sports in the coming years, based on population," said Navneet Sehgal, Additional Chief Secretary (Sports).