Uttar Pradesh's Sports Department is taking its report card to Greater Noida. For the first time, the department will run its own pavilion at the UP International Trade Show 4.0, running September 25 to 29 at India Expo Mart, and the ambition is bigger than a few banners and a stall.

The space runs close to 200 square metres, built to bring together four wings under one roof: the Directorate of Sports, the Prantiya Rakshak Dal along with the Department of Youth Welfare, the state's Sports Colleges, and the Sports University coming up in Meerut. Special Secretary Kumar Vineet is the nodal officer on the government side, with a separate nodal officer handling the department's own prep.

What's actually on display is a mix of nostalgia and pitch deck. Visitors get video clips, photographs and TV panels tracking athletes who've come out of the state's sports colleges, alongside three-dimensional models of infrastructure being built in Ayodhya, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Kanpur. A documentary on the state's sports facilities is set to screen during the run of the show. There's also a gallery of certificates, awards and medals handed out by the Chief Minister, which is as close as this gets to a red carpet.

The pavilion isn't just meant to be looked at. A gaming zone will let visitors try short activity-based versions of four sports, including football, hockey and table tennis, with small prizes and chocolates on offer for those who do well. The stated target audience here is Gen-Z, and the department wants to frame sport less as competition and more as a fitness and lifestyle habit.

There's an AI layer too. The pavilion will run presentations on how artificial intelligence can be used to track athlete data, manage talent databases and, eventually, make training and selection more efficient across the state's sports colleges.

Speaking about the exercise, Special Secretary Vineet Kumar said the state's sports colleges have functioned as nurseries for talent for decades, producing athletes who've gone on to represent the country while holding positions across various fields. He said the department is now trying to extend support further, from competition prep to placement in government service, through sports schools, hostels and Centres of Excellence, with SAI backing facilities for international athletes and a push to bring in rural talent.

The trade show itself runs five days. Whether the pavilion becomes a template the department repeats at future editions, or a one-off flex timed to this year's show, isn't something the department has said yet.