by pullela gopichandthe firstever khelo india university games starting in odisha on saturday is a wonderful initiative of the sports ministry to give a muchneeded platform to the university segment the university segment which will allow players in the under25 category to showcase their sporting prowess is important because those who win medals here can then be groomed further to represent india at the highest level of international competition including the olympicsacross the world universities have been the incubator for grooming talent for major international competitions in the us for instance the usa national collegiate athletics association ncaa championships is a huge affair in the 201819 games over 182 lakh athletes participated in division 1 alone and they have three such divisions unfortunately in india for far long we have looked at education and sport as two separate entities its important to see educational institutions as not just academic centres but as centres of excellence that can support every aspect of a students career including sportgrowing up children have too much pressure on them they have to think about their class 10 and class 12 entrance exams and so on universities lend a much more relaxed atmosphere and often have infrastructure and land available to them which can help support a talented student pursue a career in sport