Sports Infrastructure Development and Youth Sporting Success: Cross State Variations in India | RISE Research

This study investigates whether sports infrastructure investment through India's Khelo India program is associated with youth sporting success across Indian states, using secondary data from the Khelo India Youth Games of 2022, 2023, and 2025. The author compiled state-level data on cumulative infrastructure funding, project counts, athlete participation, medal counts, and medal conversion rates across all 35 Indian states and union territories, digitizing government PDF documents using LLM-assisted techniques to build a comparable cross-edition dataset. Regression analysis finds a positive but weak relationship between infrastructure funding and medal performance, with funding explaining only 12.5% of variation in medal conversion rates and 15.42% of variation in participation numbers, meaning the vast majority of a state's sporting success is explained by factors other than infrastructure spending. The paper highlights striking efficiency disparities: Maharashtra earned 450 medals (the nation's highest) from just Rs.49.50 crore in funding (about Rs.0.11 crore per medal), while Gujarat received Rs.606.37 crore but won only 59 medals (about Rs.10 crore per medal), suggesting funding alone cannot substitute for pre-existing sporting ecosystems, coaching quality, and athlete development culture. The analysis also identifies a temporary 'host-state effect,' where hosting states see sharp, short-lived medal spikes (Bihar's medal count rose 450% while hosting in 2025; Tamil Nadu's later receded from its hosting-year peak), driven by reduced qualification requirements, larger home delegations, and home-venue advantage rather than lasting infrastructure gains. The paper concludes that while Khelo India has successfully increased athlete participation across states, it has been far less effective at converting that participation into medal success, and recommends the program shift future investment toward coaching quality, competitive opportunities, and sports science development rather than infrastructure construction alone.