Gujarat | The gene hunt sport
Sports genomics takes off in a big way in the state, with a big DNA data hunt to help isolate 'the athletic gene' among its peoples. Final aim: readiness for Olympics
It’s an idea that shot like lightning, or within 10.3 seconds, right into the world’s imagination of sport in a dramatic moment 90 years ago. That was when Jesse Owens messed up the notion of white racial superiority at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The search for the DNA of a champion has been on ever since, tinged by racial notions; India made its own foray with the Special Area Games (SAG) scheme in the 1980s, an ethnic talent hunt that gave us the likes of Limba Ram and Mary Kom. Now Gujarat, an SAG laboratory back in the day, has launched its 21st century spinoff: a five-year Sports Genomics Programme (SGP) to sequence the DNA of 10,000 state athletes across 10 disciplines, hunting for genetic markers that separate champions from the rest.
It’s an idea that shot like lightning, or within 10.3 seconds, right into the world’s imagination of sport in a dramatic moment 90 years ago. That was when Jesse Owens messed up the notion of white racial superiority at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The search for the DNA of a champion has been on ever since, tinged by racial notions; India made its own foray with the Special Area Games (SAG) scheme in the 1980s, an ethnic talent hunt that gave us the likes of Limba Ram and Mary Kom. Now Gujarat, an SAG laboratory back in the day, has launched its 21st century spinoff: a five-year Sports Genomics Programme (SGP) to sequence the DNA of 10,000 state athletes across 10 disciplines, hunting for genetic markers that separate champions from the rest.
It may be India’s most ambitious sports science experiment yet. Led by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), which already leads India’s first tribal genome sequencing initiative, the SGP will perform whole-genome sequencing of the state’s athletes in endurance and power sports. The resulting Gujarat Athlete Genome Database (G-AGD) will integrate genotype, physiological and performance data to identify genetic risk factors for injuries, isolate sex- and age-related differences and design rehabilitation protocols.
CITIUS, ALTIUS, FORTIUS!
Athletes will be chosen from five endurance and five power sports, in collaboration with the Sports Authority of Gujarat. The idea is to build a database that can help create a pipeline to deliver top athletes. The driving goal: the wish to qualify, a full century after Owens, for the 2036 Olympics. Its test run, the 2030 Commonwealth Games being hosted in Ahmedabad, is also very much on the radar.
India is running against time. Improving our Olympic medal tally in 2028 and 2032 will be essential to the pitch. The SPG, the first such systemic attempt by any Indian state, is seen as a bio-infrastructural tier here.
Sports genomics is an emerging field that explores the relationship between genes and athletic potential, performance and training responses. Most global research is built on non-Indian populations; Gujarat’s is a step to indigenise data. “We hope to gather 2,000 samples every year, starting 2026,” says Dr Snehal Bagatharia, director, GBRC.
On an average, genetic factors are said to “contribute about 66 per cent to athletic performance”. (The rest is environmental variables: training, nutrition, ergogenic aids, medical/ social support et al.) Patterns of DNA polymorphisms can help gauge endurance, strength, power and team sport suitability. Personalised training, optimising performance, minimising health risks, identifying talent early in appropriate social pools, it’s all part of themix. “It’s a powerful tool for evidence-based talent identification and precision training,” says Bagatharia. With an annual budget of Rs 5.21 crore for the SGP, Gujarat also hopes to diversify its sports culture beyond cricket and position itself as a sports biotech hub.
Table tennis champion Sharath Kamal used genetic screening before Paris 2024 not to peak higher, but to age smarter. The BCCI brought genetic testing into the Indian men’s setup in 2017, using it to fine-tune speed, endurance, fat metabolism, muscle development and recovery. These tests were introduced in India around 2011, with many players individually getting these assessments done before that.
There are also troubling questions. Who owns your DNA data? Could genetic profiling end up excluding talent from allegedly ‘lesser’ pools? Will labs replace grassroots development? Will the future go towards gene-editing?
