If there are 13- and 14-year-olds smashing players double or triple their age in competitive sports at the highest levels — like a Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a 13-year-old boy who massacred world’s fearsome pacers and wily spinners in an IPL match — it is thanks to the change in the attitude of the parents, and the availability of opportunities for the kids to showcase their talent.

Which was not the case, say some 20, 30 or 40 years ago, when a lad called Prakash Padukone was struggling to make a place under the sun for himself in the world of Badminton. The living legend told The Statesman that earlier, the parents’ focus would be more on education and career. “Talent was there, then too, in sports and in every other aspect of life too. But clearly there were not too many opportunities, and especially in smaller towns and villages,” Padukone said, warming up to the subject of “Boys thrashing Men” in sports, in cricket and in many other sports too in India.

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“Talent was always there, even 40 or 50 years ago. But I think people in smaller towns and cities never had the opportunity to showcase their talents. But now, more so in the last eight to ten years, there is better infrastructure, better coaching facilities, better opportunities, and more sports scholarships. And also now smaller towns have become hubs of sports activities, not just in tier 2 or tier 3 cities but in tier 3 and tier 4 towns too that boast of good facilities. Now, the kids are getting more platforms to showcase their talent,” the sportstar and icon said.

He was the chief guest at the opening ceremony of Apollo Group’s Apollo Cradle and Children’s Hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday afternoon.

When asked how a teenager can present a murderous display on the cricket pitch in front of thousands of spectators, Padukone credited it to the confidence gained by the kids when playing so much competitive sport at their age, starting very young. This you can see more so in cricket, which has more money, and so many people are playing the sport.

“But kids getting into sports is also happening in Olympic sports, and other sports, nowadays they start so early, by say 6 or 7, which was not the case some 20 or 30 years ago when the focus of the parents was on education and careers. But now, the parents are allowing children to pursue their passion and or pursue both, Padukone said, going into the reasons why more youngsters are performing at the national and international level now than ever before in India.

And this is not just in sports, but in extra-curricular activities too, Padukone said. People today are more confident that one can make a good career, if you can make it to the national level or international level. “Today, the children are maturing early because they have a lot more opportunities to compete, federations have come up with various plans and projects, there is khelo India , there are under 11, under 9 championships in different sports, because of which you are able to showcase your talent. And this ecosystem is also making talent identification at a younger age easier and casting the net wider, and at a much younger age,” he said.

Yes, along with sporting activities, the focus is on health, fitness, and preventive medicine with hospitals like Apollo coming up with predictive and preventive medical techniques and programmes, with specialised hospitals providing comprehensive healthcare.

After the opening of Apollo Cradle and Apollo One hospitals in Bengaluru’s Electronic City, Dr Sangita Reddy, joint managing director, Apollo Hospitals Group, said the group was working on expanding presence in Delhi and Noida and was also looking at a few north Indian states to expand in tier two cities as well.

Apollo is truly a national brand – and committed to bring the absolutely best in terms of the most modern technology and the best possible medical treatment in the world to India, she said, adding that in few tier 2 cities, they are managing the government hospital set-up to bring the best medical practices to the reach of the common man.

Endorsing Apollo services were two of its celeb brands in themselves — Prakash Padukone, who needs no introduction and an extremely popular film actress Sapthami Gowda. She said “She felt fortunate to be in a country like India where medical help was so approachable and easily available, as compared to the developed West, and felt that India was in a happy place with specialised hospitals and a medical fraternity that existed in the country – truly world-class and more.”