Growing the Olympic movement has been one of two key focus areas of Reliance Foundation’s sports chapter that was founded in 2013, the other being football.
Under the leadership of Nita Mukesh Ambani, the first Indian woman to join the International Olympic Committee in 2016, Reliance Foundation has expanded from a single program in 2013 to support over 200 athletes across more than 10 sports disciplines. Since its inception, the foundation’s initiatives have positively impacted the lives of over 22.9 million children and youth in India.
Olympic Scholarship Program
Launched in 2019, the foundation’s scholarship program aims to support athletes and organizations in pursuits for Olympic success. The program currently supports over 50 athletes across 10+ sports, to create a pipeline of young athletes capable of achieving international success.
Paris Olympics 2024
Reliance Foundation athletes Lovlina Borgohain, Kishore Kumar Jena, Manika Batra, Reetika Hooda, Nisha Dahiya and Anush Agarwalla have so far qualified for the Paris 2024 games, while Tilottama Sen and Palak Gulia were notable names who earned quota places for the Paris Olympics.
Sandeep Singh topped the shooting selection trials in the marquee 10m air rifle event. Amir Ahmad Bhat (shooting) has qualified for the Para Olympics. Bhowneesh Mendiratta is also a quota holder in shooting while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is the reserve player in the table tennis team. Jyothi Yarraji is also on course for Olympics qualification by virtue of her ranking.
Kishore (javelin throw) and Lovlina (women’s boxing) have directly qualified, while Reetika and Nisha (women’s wrestling) earned a qualification. Newly signed Reliance Foundation athlete Anush Agarwalla, obtained India’s first-ever dressage quota in equestrian.
While five of the seven athletes mentioned above are women, three of them are of age 22 or lower. Tilottama (16) and Palak (18) are still teenagers, with Tilottama also being the youngest Indian shooter ever to earn a qualification berth for the Olympics. Mrs Ambani has emphasized on the importance of backing women in sport and the foundation has over 50% women athletes in its scholarship programme.
Athletics Program
The Reliance Foundation also has one of the most robust and well-defined athletics programs in India, overseen by renowned coach James Hillier, and boasts of three facilities: The National Athletics Centre in Navi Mumbai, the Odisha Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre, and the Endurance Training program in Bengaluru and Ooty. The Odisha centre is India’s first indoor athletics facility.
The foundation’s athletics program has produced some of India’s leading athletes like Jyothi Yarraji and Amlan Borgohain as well as very promising young talent like Animesh Kujur, Bapi Hansda, among others.
Jyothi Yarraji is the national record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles event and the only Indian woman in history to run below the 13s mark in the event. Amlan Borgohain is the national record holder in the men’s 200m event, while Animesh Kujur is the second fastest Indian in the same event in history. Bapi Hansda is the first Indian ever to win silver in the men’s 400m hurdles event at the Asian Youth Athletics Championships and has already qualified for the World Junior Athletics Championships later this year.
India House at the Paris Olympics 2024
Building on the momentum from the IOC Session in October 2023, Reliance Foundation, in partnership with the IOA, will establish the first-ever India House at the Paris Olympics, 2024. India House will serve as a showcase of India to the world, marking 100 years of India’s participation in the Olympics to fans from across the world, to key stakeholders from the global sports world, Indian travellers, media and athletes.
It will also be the first time that Indian athletes will have a home at the Olympics that will look to celebrate India’s sporting achievements and sportspersons.
India took a massive leap forward in its journey as an Olympic nation with Mumbai hosting the 141st session of the IOC in October 15-17, 2023. The IOC session had returned to India after a gap of 40 years. New Delhi had hosted the 86th edition of the IOC session in 1983.
An Indian delegation led by Nita Ambani had made a compelling pitch at the 139th IOC session in Beijing in February 2022, following which Mumbai received overwhelming endorsement for its bid with 99% of the votes in its favour from the delegates participating in the process.
Nita Ambani has been at the forefront of championing India’s potential in building itself as a sports powerhouse and played a pivotal role in bringing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session back to India.
Elected to the IOC in 2016, she is the first Indian woman to become a member of the body and has since demonstrated a deep and unwavering commitment to strengthening India’s contribution to the Olympic Movement. Chaired by her, the Reliance Foundation, too, remains committed to empowering athletes from the grassroots to the elite stage.
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