Olympic tennis medallist Leander Paes joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, launching a new innings in politics just days before the West Bengal elections.
The tennis legend, born in West Bengal, said he was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision and aims to prioritise sports to empower the youth.
“I want to focus on sports and on the youth. Ours is a young nation; 74.5 million people are under the age of 26. The focus in the next 20-25 years should be on sports education, sports infrastructure, medicine and architecture,” he said.
Paes highlighted the dearth of sports facilities across India, noting there is not a single indoor tennis court in the country—a stark gap in a tropical nation that experiences rain and high temperatures for three to six months annually.
“When I started playing in 1986 in Bengal, there were no clay courts… the infrastructure has improved, but Bengal can do better,” Paes said.
Paes won the bronze medal in men’s singles tennis at the Atlanta Olympics on July 29, 1996, ending India’s 44-year Olympic medal drought.
He credited Union minister Kiren Rijiju for “inspiring him” to join the BJP to build sports infrastructure, while praising government initiatives such as Khelo India for boosting the sector.
{{/usCountry}}He credited Union minister Kiren Rijiju for “inspiring him” to join the BJP to build sports infrastructure, while praising government initiatives such as Khelo India for boosting the sector.
{{/usCountry}}On the geopolitical tensions in West Asia and the Ukraine-Russia war, Paes said.