Mansukh Mandaviya, the new Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, defeated his Congress rival by 3.83 lakh votes to win the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat. Apart from the sports portfolio, he has also been assigned the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers. India achieved its best-ever performance at the Olympics during the outgoing minister, Anurag Thakur’s tenure, winning a record seven medals in the Tokyo Games. Mandaviya’s appointment comes as the government started making a pitch to launch an ambitious bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games for the first time ever.