Sports as an Accelerator of Social Change

All Things Policy

In this episode of All Things Policy, we are joined by Deepthi Bopaiah who is the CEO of GoSports Foundation, a National award winning non-profit organisation to support elite and emerging athletes across Olympic and Paralympic disciplines. Under her leadership in 2019, GoSports was bestowed with the prestigious ‘Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar’ – National Sports Encouragement Award for identifying and nurturing budding young talent. Due to her incredible work in the field of athlete education, she is part of the National Committee for the creation of a National Sports Education Board and is currently overseeing the training and progress of India’s athletes gearing up for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. The episode covers the journey of GoSports Foundation, the impact of CSR on sports promotion in the country, the social benefits of women’s participation in sport, perceptions of disability and inclusion in the context of the para-athlete community and working with governments at scale to achieve sporting outcomes.

Episode shownotes:

Impact of GoSports Foundation: https://www.gosportsfoundation.in/impact

Support GoSports Foundation here: https://www.gosportsfoundation.in/get-involved

GoSports Foundation, a 15-year-old nonprofit organization, has been conferred with the prestigious Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar award in 2019. So far, they have supported over 300 emerging and elite Indian athletes, and through their athlete scholarship program they have supported over 50 athletes to represent India at the Olympics and Paralympics, with an impressive 10 paralympic medalists among them. The foundation's mission is to Enable Sports Excellence, and use sports excellence as a vehicle for social change and a tool to improve the lives of individuals, communities and the state of our nation. They are also joined by the two Indian sporting stalwarts - the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team, Mr. Rahul Dravid, and the Chief National Coach of the Indian Badminton Team, Mr. Pullela Gopichand - as the ambassadors of the foundation.
If you want to support the GoSports Foundation programmes: Play a part in our athletes’ journeys to the Olympics/Paralympics. Empower our able-bodied and para-athletes’ lives through sport. Who knows? The next athlete putting India on the global sporting map could be there because of your support. Donate Now!