The unanimous election of Anurag Thakur as President of the Himachal Pradesh Olympic Association (HPOA) is far more than a routine administrative change.
It represents a strategic consolidation of political influence and a decisive attempt to reposition Himachal Pradesh within India’s national sports framework. For a state that has long struggled to translate enthusiasm into excellence, Thakur’s return is both symbolic and systemic an assertion that the only way to accelerate progress is through political clout, central access, and a proven administrative blueprint.
At the HPOA’s Annual General Meeting, Anurag Thakur Member of Parliament from Hamirpur, former Union Sports Minister, and senior BJP leader was unanimously elected President, marking his return to the state’s top sports administrative post after several years.
The move was met with rare unity across the state’s sports federations. Even more notably, outgoing President Virender Kanwar, a former BJP minister, was elevated as Chief Patron ensuring both continuity and internal cohesion. The newly formed 17-member Executive Committee led by Rajesh Bhandari (General Secretary), MLA Balbir Verma (Senior Vice-President), and Amitabh Sharma (Treasurer) reflects an attempt to project competence, political balance, and organizational discipline.
This collective consensus is significant. It signals a shared belief among Himachal’s sports administrators that the state’s chronic stagnation requires federal-level leadership and that Thakur’s mix of political reach and administrative pedigree is indispensable to achieving that transformation.
The Crisis in Himachal Sports
The backdrop to this power shift is sobering. Himachal Pradesh remains a bottom-tier performer in India’s sporting map, consistently ranking outside the top 20 in National Games standings. Despite the state government’s campaign to brand Himachal as “Khel Bhoomi” (Land of Sports), structural gaps persist from inadequate infrastructure and coach shortages to fragmented talent pathways.
While Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s Congress government has announced projects like a ₹65 crore multi-sport complex in Kharedi, Nadaun, the pace of execution has been slow, and the linkage between infrastructure and athlete development remains weak. Within this context, Thakur’s return to HPOA represents not just administrative reform, but a parallel sports development track one that is centrally aligned, self-sustaining, and politically autonomous from the state government.
The Thakur Doctrine: A New Development Blueprint
Upon assuming charge, Thakur outlined a four-pillar vision to redefine Himachal’s sports structure a framework rooted in infrastructure, coaching, specialization, and self-sustainability.
1. Infrastructure Enhancement: The first priority is clear: build and modernize infrastructure across districts. Thakur’s approach mirrors his earlier work with the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), which under his leadership built five stadiums including the world-class Dharamshala Cricket Stadium on minimal budgets and in challenging terrain. The goal now is to replicate that model across Olympic disciplines, decentralizing access to facilities and integrating them with national training networks like Khelo India.
2. Coaching and Talent Development: Himachal’s sports crisis is fundamentally a human capital problem. There are too few qualified coaches, and no systemic mechanism for identifying and nurturing young athletes. Thakur aims to professionalize coaching structures, align them with national accreditation programs, and expand the grassroots talent pool particularly through district-level sports academies that function as feeders to state and national centers.
3. Specialization: High-Altitude and Endurance Sports, the defining feature of Thakur’s plan is strategic specialization. Instead of competing with larger states in mainstream sports, Himachal will focus on high-altitude and endurance disciplines areas where its geography and physiology offer natural advantages. Sports such as long-distance running, mountaineering, cycling, and biathlon fit this niche perfectly. The objective is to create high-altitude training hubs that not only develop state athletes but also attract national and international teams seeking acclimatization environments.
This dual purpose performance and commercial utility makes the model self-sustaining and aligns with the Olympic movement’s emphasis on geographic diversity in medal-producing disciplines.
4. Financial Self-Reliance: Perhaps the most critical aspect of the “Thakur Doctrine” is financial autonomy. The HPOA intends to reduce dependence on state government grants which are often vulnerable to political cycles by creating revenue-generating infrastructure.
Training centers, altitude camps, and sports science facilities could be monetized for use by federations, corporate fitness programs, and international teams. This approach borrows directly from Thakur’s HPCA experience, where match hosting and event tourism created recurring income streams.
Learning from History: The HPCA Precedent
Thakur’s reputation as an administrator was cemented during his two-decade leadership of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA). Beginning in 2000 with a ₹40 lakh budget and an inaccessible hillside plot, he oversaw the construction of the Dharamshala Stadium now an international venue that transformed the region’s sporting identity. That model combining political influence, private investment, and rapid execution has become the operational DNA for his new HPOA mandate.
However, it also carries baggage. Thakur’s tenure as BCCI President ended controversially in 2017 when he was removed following the Supreme Court’s intervention in the Lodha Committee reforms, which sought greater transparency in cricket governance.
This history has made Thakur deeply conscious of the tension between autonomy and oversight. His insistence on building a “self-sustaining model” for the HPOA reflects a desire to shield the association from excessive bureaucratic control especially in a state now governed by a rival political party.
Centre-State Rivalry: The Political Undercurrent
The HPOA’s new era cannot be separated from the political contest shaping its environment.
Anurag Thakur represents the BJP and sits in the national Parliament, while the Himachal state government is led by the Congress under CM Sukhu. The two have frequently clashed publicly not only on sports but on fiscal policy, disaster relief, and administrative transparency. By electing Thakur unanimously, the HPOA has effectively chosen to align itself with the Centre, not the State. The association now acts as a semi-autonomous power center with access to central funding and influence through the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), where Thakur remains an Executive Member.
This setup allows Himachal to bypass the state bureaucracy for critical funding particularly under Khelo India and Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). The state has already received ₹17.48 crore under Khelo India allocations, which can now be channelled into the HPOA’s specialized agenda. However, this central alignment carries risks. Key projects such as stadium construction or land acquisition still require state approvals. Any escalation of Centre-State hostility could translate into bureaucratic delays, duplicate infrastructure projects, or political credit battles.
High-Altitude Strategy: Turning Geography into Policy
Himachal’s competitive advantage lies not in population or industrial investment, but in altitude. The state’s topography, climate, and natural conditioning potential make it an ideal laboratory for endurance sports. Under Thakur, the HPOA plans to develop a network of high-altitude training centers modeled after global examples in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Colorado Springs. The idea is not merely to train local athletes but to commercialize the state’s terrain transforming it into a hub for national and international camps. This is both visionary and pragmatic.
While lowland states pour resources into building stadiums, Himachal can achieve global relevance through geographic specialization an approach that requires less capital but delivers higher returns in Olympic categories. Moreover, the strategy aligns perfectly with India’s national sports diversification policy, which seeks medals in emerging disciplines rather than overcrowded ones like shooting or wrestling.
If implemented effectively, Himachal could become India’s first state to specialize in endurance excellence.
Governance Risks and Mitigation. despite the ambitious vision, Thakur’s leadership faces substantial operational and political risks.
1. Political Resistance: The biggest challenge will come from within the state. The Congress government controls land, infrastructure, and local administrative machinery, all essential for project implementation. To mitigate this, the HPOA is expected to leverage central land holdings and private partnerships, minimizing dependence on state clearances.
2. Financial Scrutiny: Given Thakur’s past brush with judicial intervention at the BCCI, every financial move of the HPOA will be under public and media microscope. The only safeguard is proactive transparency adopting global accounting and compliance standards akin to IOC or FIFA-mandated systems. Establishing a public annual report and audit cycle would help pre-empt political attacks and build credibility.
3. Strategic Focus: With immense political pressure to deliver results, there is a risk of mission creep diverting resources into politically visible but low-impact projects. To avoid this, the HPOA must set quantifiable goals:
- Establish three operational high-altitude training centers by 2027
- Qualify Himachal athletes for the 2028 and 2032 Olympics in endurance categories
- Achieve a top-15 finish in the next National Games
These metrics will keep the reform agenda disciplined and measurable.
The Broader Implication: Redefining State Sports Governance
Thakur’s return to HPOA isn’t an isolated event it reflects a growing national trend of politicized sports leadership, where governance and electoral strategy converge. However, unlike figurehead appointments, Thakur brings operational credibility, proven infrastructure execution, and policy literacy. His ability to align state projects with central funding pipelines could serve as a model for other small states struggling to overcome administrative inertia.
If successful, Himachal Pradesh could emerge as a case study in federal sports decentralization where state associations leverage national influence to drive regional excellence.
Anurag Thakur’s unanimous election as HPOA President is both a political statement and a developmental experiment. It embodies the belief that Himachal Pradesh’s sporting revival depends not merely on funding, but on leadership capable of navigating power, policy, and performance simultaneously. His formula combining altitude specialization, infrastructural self-reliance, and federal connectivity has the potential to transform the state from a peripheral participant into a national contributor to India’s Olympic aspirations.
But the real test lies ahead: turning consensus into capacity, and political advantage into measurable sporting success. If Thakur can balance ambition with transparency and collaboration, Himachal Pradesh may finally achieve what has long eluded it not just participation, but podiums.
