Bhubaneswar | Padhoge likhoge banoge nawab, kheloge koodoge banoge kharab. India grew up on this proverb, and on 23 October KIIT and KISS buried it with 26 international medals. Fifty-seven of our athletes brought home 21 medals from the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, matching Punjab's tally, and fourteen more won five at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Behind every one of those medals stands a man who saw a sprinter where others saw a student, and a champion where others saw a tribal child with no shoes. Prof. Achyuta Samanta built classrooms and playgrounds with the same conviction, because he never accepted that a young person must choose between the two.
He gave our athletes free training, open trials and world-class facilities long before the world was watching. Today he gave them Rs 2.5 crore in awards and promised Rs 1 crore for every Olympic gold at Los Angeles 2028. Most institutions celebrate champions after they arrive. Prof. Samanta builds them from the first day. Kheloge koodoge, banoge champion.