Asian Games in full swing, Sports Ministry shifts focus to BRICS Games in Ahmedabad

Xtratime Webdesk: While India’s athletes battle for medals in Japan, the country’s sports administration is already looking beyond the Asian Games. In Ahmedabad, preparations are gathering pace for the BRICS Traditional and Indigenous Sports Demonstration Games, where sport will take on a different role as a bridge between cultures and nations.

While Indian athletes continue their medal campaign in Japan, senior Sports Ministry officials have chosen to remain in India to oversee preparations for the BRICS event, scheduled for October 12 and 13. Sports Secretary Hari Ranjan Rao, who had been scheduled to travel to Japan on September 28, changed his plans and decided to stay back, with the preparations in Ahmedabad being given priority at this stage.

The decision underlines the significance attached to an event that is different in both purpose and format from the Asian Games. The Ahmedabad gathering will not be a medal-driven competition. Instead, it is designed as a platform for countries to present their traditional and indigenous sporting practices, creating space for cultural exchange and closer people-to-people engagement.

Around 2,000 athletes, officials and other participants from nine countries are expected to take part. Countries including China, Russia and Iran are among those scheduled to be represented, bringing together sporting traditions from across the BRICS grouping.

The event also allows India to use sports beyond the conventional medal table. Traditional games can become a means of showcasing cultural heritage while building sporting relationships between participating nations.

For the Sports Ministry, therefore, the focus is not simply shifting from one competition to another. The Asian Games represent high-performance sport and medal ambition; Ahmedabad will offer a different stage, where sport, culture and international cooperation intersect.

The Ahmedabad event also comes at a time when India is looking to strengthen its position on the global sporting stage. The country is set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad and has also expressed its ambition to host the 2036 Olympic Games. Against that backdrop, events such as the BRICS Games provide another opportunity for India to showcase its ability to organise international sporting gatherings while bringing countries together through sport and culture.

With India chairing BRICS in 2026, the Ahmedabad Games add another dimension to the country's sporting diplomacy, placing indigenous sporting traditions at the centre of a wider international exchange.