Indian sports needs a persistent System

                                                                                                          RUGVED JOSHI

         

India who is considered as a sleeping giant in sports by the world does so poorly in the games. Just imagine a country with population 1.3 billion people with return of just 1 Gold medal since 1980. To put India’s performance in context Michael Phelps from USA has won same number of medals as team India has since 1900 Games .The only positives are 8 Gold medals won in field hockey during (1928-1980).

So, what can be the problems of India’s poor showing in Sports.

·         Genetic Superiority –

 India being a diverse nation boasts with Limbs and muscles of all sizes, so race and genetics cannot be a arguable reasons for India’s poor showing.

·         High poverty Level and poor Infrastructure –

Well Infrastructure can be an essential Reason but we need to study the fact that countries from African and south American continents  which have poor economy and lower per capita than India still manage to  perform way better than us.’

·         SYSTEM – Our players in terms of hard work leave no stone unturned but they are not properly channelized in a proper way.

I hope you remember Srinivas Gowda who came into News for being faster than Usain Bolt, although he was a buffalo racer and we still thought that we had found a star who could make his mark in Athletics. The problem is we have to stop expecting such ready made products. We need to create champions through a proper system. Till today athletes who have achieved success internationally are exceptions rather than the product of countries sports system.

So, the Question is what is wrong in our system that after spending loads of money on sports schemes we are getting so less in return –

1.       Political involvement - People argue that political leaders bring in more money to the game, but the problem is all they care about is their own stature and position rather than benefit of the sportsperson. Today over 50 percent President post in  sports associations are headed by a Politician.

Some of them are not even keen enough to know the sports. Also, in our country Sports Federations are not held accountable for poor results.

2.       Professional league – As we saw in cricket IPL brought a revolution in Indian Cricket and produced great talents like Bumrah, Pandya or Rishab pant. This Raw talents got the perfect exposure and the right guidance to become world’s best. Similarly , Kabbadi has got a new recognization in India due to pro kabbadi league and its popularity has increased in the rural parts as well. But, interestingly other leagues didn’t receive the same fame and flopped such as wrestling league, badminton league or others. The ISL for football has brought a positive effect for Indian football but I expect a lot more from the football federation and consider it as a par success. Hockey too is doing okay and has lot of scope to improve.

So, the irony is the only 2 leagues that are doing well in India are Non-olympic sports.

3.       Lack of reach – We still have not reached the grassroot level were there may be numerous of Milkha Singh’s all we need to do is identify them, give them the best infrastructure, perfect exposure and international experience to reach their potential.

 Amir Khan beautifully describes  in his movie Dangal about Champions.

He says that  Champions are not produced by magic, we need to nurture them, train hard and shape them as a potter shapes pots out of clay.