Response from:
Anonymous R, Registered Member on
Ammas.com
Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
Most countries who are Olympics winners spot the talent early.The contestants are spotted early and give a good training.This training is financed by different agencies or the government of the country.In countries like India, sports is not appreciated compared to academics.Also, the deserving candidates are not well funded.Thus, India doesn't have lot many contestants as against countries like USA or China.Chinese are trained since the age of 3.Also,proper training and recognition is given in such countries.
Response from:
Anonymous , Council Member on
Ammas.com
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
Every Indian who follows the Olympics has cringed scanning the daily list of medal winners, eyes traveling down past dozens of nations big and small before alighting on a solitary Indian bronze in tennis or wrestling. Worse yet, we have all known the shame of waiting day after day for India to appear on the list at all, as countries a hundredth our size record gold upon gold and Indian athletes are barely mentioned among the also-rans.
India is the second most populous country in the world and a fast-emerging economic giant; but every fourth year the nation stands embarrassed in the Olympics with its mediocre performance.
Here are my guesses as to why India, the mighty superpower-to-be of this century, is more like a teeny-weeny micro-power, when it comes to Olympic sports.
1. History -For the entire first half of the modern Olympic history that started in 1896, India was a British colony where life as an athlete was the last thing on most people’s minds. Even today, that British influence refuses to wear off, leaving its mark in the form of the British game of Cricket, a sport that has virtually destroyed any hope of any other sport gaining any traction in India.
2. Cricket -In India, Cricket hogs more coverage, more money, more political influence, and more time of people’s lives than all other sports combined. Generations of talented athletes have been ignored, left in poverty, forgotten by the state, and just left to rot, thanks to the Cricket brats who enjoy millions and give back zilch to the sporting world in return. Even this year, India’s highest honor in sports went to a Cricketer, extinguishing any hopes and aspirations of future track and field stars who might have been dreaming to be future Olympians.
3. Politics -Just as it corrupts everything else in this country, politics and the masters who practise it, have held most Indian sports hostage, by stifling funding, meddling with selection processes, and influencing sports awards. The head of India’s Olympic contingent is a career politician, and so is the head of India’s Cricket board. Personally and financially, it is a great achievement for them both. For the athletes who represent those sports, it is nothing less than a nightmare and a shame.
4. Bollywood -Bollywood is one of the strongest influencers of India’s public life. More than 99% of the movie scripts that come out of Bollywood deal with girl meets boy stories that are decorated with stupid dances and silly romantic songs which make for a great 3-hour escape, but also help people look the other way where people need to face reality. Over a 100 years, Bollywood has made probably less than 5 notable movies about sports.
5. Education system -India’s education system discourages sports and athleticism. Most youngsters interested in sports activities tend to quit early and join either medicine or engineering fields to be viable in the competitive job markets. The school-level sports seldom produce record-breaking performances, and there aren’t any proper scouting programs that can hunt good athletes out and groom them.
6. Generalized neglect and apathy and idiocy-Most Indians did not and probably still do not know the Indian who, for decades, was the only Indian to have won an individual medal at the Olympics. As against that, most Indians know, by heart, every name on India’s cricketing roaster for last 50 years. Khashaba Jadhav won India’s first wrestling honor at the 1952 games, but was forgotten for years, just like that. Just like that. And that year and the next and the next and for many thereafter, India’s cricketers had their asses kicked by every other Cricketing team on the planet, and they were our national heroes.
7. Generalized lack of national pride -Olympics is a time of pride for nations that excel at the games and a time of shame for those who suck at it. Indians have taken themselves out of contention even before participating. Even this year, as he left for Beijing, the president of India’s Olympic contingent told the press not to expect much from the Indian contingent.
8. All action, no talk -That’s what the Olympics are all about. But that’s completely contrary to our philosophy of life which is all talk and little action. If there ever were an Olympics for oratory, demagoguery, and eloquence, Indians would bring home all the medals. But sports is action and that’s a problem (even our action heroes talk more and act less).
9. Scriptures -We are into metaphysical Olympics, not physical Olympics. Our scriptures tell us that our bodies are just temporary mediums for our souls. So why exercise something that is not going to be around in a few years? Why not, instead, exercise the soul, and the mind? Oh, you want to run faster than me? By all means, my child. But what are you running from?
10. Actually, most Indians really do not give a rat’s ass as to which country won how many medals at the games. Most of us will enjoy the Chinese firecrackers, ogle at the female gymnasts, cheer for the dwindling number of Indians still in contention, and in a few weeks, will get back to the more philosophical and more metaphysical aspects of living.
India’s economy is booming and the business of sports is expanding steadily, key factors that should help lift it out of its Olympic doldrums. Although there are signs things could be changing, most of its hopes are bogged down in bickering, underfunding and a national obsession with a non-Olympic sport: Cricket.
No other sport comes even close, leaving top athletes in everything from weightlifting to track grumbling about a lack of funding, empty grandstands and training camps that might not even have air conditioning.
We are a developing country, it is said; after all, it is not just your eye against his, your legs against hers, but what you can do against their trainer, their running shoe, their aerodynamic costume, their titanium archer’s bow. But those rationales won’t do: Other developing countries, from Jamaica to Ethiopia, regularly rake in the medals.
Our talent pool isn’t really a billion, some argue; it’s only the well off and middle class, maybe 300 million strong, who can afford to play sports. But even that is a larger population base than 100 countries that do better than India at the Olympics.
Few more reasons: Lack of Talent - Indians don't have the skills for those games Lack of Will/Application - Indians don't apply themselves enough to win Lack of Facilities - Indians don't have the required facilities to practise Lack of Funds - Indians don't have the money either to setup facilities or to nurture talent Lack of Encouragement - Indians don't value Olympic medals Lack of Interest/Different priorities - Indians have other priorities than the games played at Olympics
Response from:
a b, Council Member on
Ammas.com
Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
It has more than a billion people, a population wild about sports and an athletic tradition that stretches back for centuries. So how is India, a nation always comparing itself to China, looking toward the Beijing Olympics?
When it comes to the Olympics, India has long been a laggard. The last time around, in Athens, it earned just one medal—a silver in shooting—and it has been nearly three decades since India took home a gold. In men’s field hockey, the one sport where it used to dominate, it didn’t even make the Olympics this year.
Cricket is something no Indian Olympian can escape, a sport that is nearly everything there and is played by nearly every boy. Indian cricket stars become famous almost beyond imagination—they are worshipped as minor gods in some places—and their faces become ubiquitous in advertising. If India wins a major cricket tournament, the victory is celebrated across the nation by millions of people shooting off backyard fireworks. Television rights are sold for many millions of dollars, and players become immensely wealthy.
Every four years we live in hope of a miracle. The Olympics do not have the same importance for Indians as, say, the World Cup of cricket, but still the underachievers that most of us are, we love basking in the glory of some of our sporting icons who beat hardships day in, day out to still live hard and fight it out against the best in the world.
We should have life style change. Entertainment should not just mean TV, movies or a time-consuming 9hour match. Sport not only means entertainment but also fitness which I see is a boon to any country, considering the costs reduced in govt. health benefits. Jogging would be a gateway to a bunch of sports. There are enough rivers/ canals in india to get started in swimming. This is peoples initiative. Government on the other hand should encourage sports, improve infrastructure. We hardly see a play ground in city schools. The right talent should be spotted and groomed. It should be all sport no games.
What I fail to understand time and again is how countries like Kazakhstan and Kenya stand way above us in the points tally when those athletes struggle for even two square meals a day. I'm reminded of people like Aslam Sher Khan, who learned the art of hockey with broken sticks and still brought laurels for us.
Industry should also shoulder a huge amount of blame, though things are improving in this area. Companies have started to fund some sportsmen, but if we do see the reasons for India’s sustained failure in the Games over a period of time, one of the major points to come out would be lack of funding.
The media must hold its hands up for not covering other sports with the same kind of enthusiasm that they cover cricket. There has been a lot of step-motherly treatment for other sports in this country but, fortunately for all of us, things are improving.
Response from:
Rajmi Arun, Council Member on
Ammas.com
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
In the year 1900 India won two medals in athletics in Olympic games and it was won by Norman Pritchard. Though both were Silver Medals, that started off with the Indian Olympic medal tally. Indian Hockey team have won the gold for consecutive 5 Olympics starting from 1928 to 1952. Again the Gold for Hockey was won by India in the years 1956, 1963 and 1980. Totally 9 Gold medals in Hockey. In the years 1968 and 1972 Indian Hockey have won Bronze medals in the Olympics. (Souce wikipedia). Where have that Indian team gone.
India have more talented people. In the past we had great talents like Prakash Padukone, P.T.Usha, Milka Singh, etc etc., we all know that they are great sportsmen; Like them we have so many young talents, upcoming but we have never taken any pains to nurture them.
India's national game is hockey, but now it have lost its charm and the entire nation is looking at the cricketers. No other country in this world is as cricket crazy as India. I am not blaming others alone, including me, we all are cricket crazy, but when it comes to other games, we dont have the patience to sit and watch. These games ends in couple of hours unlike cricket, which is played for a min of 6 hours to 5 days.
Things have to change a lot from the players front and also from the government side. The government should stop also support players of other sports. There are so many high class players. We all cannot forget Kutraleeswaran; how many of us know where is he and what is he now? He is now a software engineer in US. He have given an interview that if I keep on swimming, I wont be able to earn for my living, so I have taken up to software profession. This is the situation of most of the Indian players who could have got Gold for India in the Olympics.
Next comes the money that is needed for the players. They get sponsors only if they are top notch, only if they reach a better ranking. Cricket and cricketers are sponsored with great ease than any other sports person. Apart from cricket, a person can get a sponsor only if he/she becomes a star in that particular sports. If this trend continues, the players who try hard will at one point of time back out of the sports like Kutraleeswaran.
The players also should play not just for them individually but also for their country. Though most of today's players are like that, still it needs to go a long way. The government should identify talents at young age, and put them in a separate school and nurture them. I have seen a documentary how Nadia the great Russian gymnast was nurtured; that is the way all young Indian talents should be nurtured. If it is done, then we could expect lots of medalists (let us hope to get a medal first, then dream for the gold). Those young talents should be taught both education and also the sports that they are interested in. We have some great coaches too for India. If we can bring in a foreign coach for Indian cricket, if needed why not bring in foreign coaches for other games too.
It is a great gesture by BCCI to have announced a good cash award for other sports men too. But that is not enough. BCCI should come forward to nurture other sports too. Cricketers should also help the young talents to come up in their sports. Let us all Indians, pitch in and put in some of our efforts, be it money or be it cheering for them, little drop makes a big ocean. Let us hope to get more medals in 2016 Olympics which might take place in India.
This year totally 97 playes are representing India of which 42 are officials accompanying the players.
India have won its first gold after a very long time. Let us all cheer the winner and also wish all the athelets who have gone for the Olympics come back with atleast one medal.
Response from:
later later, Council Member on
Ammas.com
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
Hello,
1.Most of us realise that we don't have good sporting facilities comparatively with the west. 2. We need proper coaches to train our atheletes. Tough training. 3. In our asian culture we don't emphasis much on sports except for cricket & hockey. I think we need to raise our standards in order to compete with games like olympics. 4. We need sponsors to come forward for funding and training our sportsmen. 5. Government should create funds and incentives for the sportsmen.
in Swimming:Virdhawal Khade,Ankur Poseria, Sandeep Sejwal,Rehan Poncha
in Tennis:Mahesh Bhupathi,Leander Paes,Sania Mirza,Sunitha Rao.
in Sailing: Major NS Johal
These 57 heroes are representing India in the Beijing Olympics 2008 with hopes for winning medals.
one very interesting piece of information I came across while watching the News (cnn ibn) the other day. It said that the reason for winning more medals have nothing to do with population or the wealth of a nation. The news quoted the findings of a research carried out by two experts (Anirudh Krishna and Eric Haglund) at the Duke University - USA, Social Mobility is the key to sucesss at the Olympics.
Social Mobility is brought about by better infrastructure. The study cited the example of Portugal whose Olympic medals tally increased with the improvement of Radio Network . According to the research, better informed people perform better .
I feel that the reason cited by it is just one of a combination of factors. If we look at the history of great players like Pele or Maradona , famous NBA stars, some have a not very affluent history. Some in fact grew up in slums. The same way, there is a whole lot of talent in the Indian Villages . We need to tap into this and spot and develop these talents. Has anyone seen a village boy running or swimming in that wild river ? Well I have and I can vouch that some run like the wind and swim like a mermaid. With a little training and grooming these children can perform wonders.
I hope india wins a few gold medals in 2008 olympics. But in reality the chances of winning a sinlge gold medal is just a dream. Blame the politicians for this…..as they show no interest in sports.
India lacks a modern sporting culture akin to countries like Australia, US etc… its difficult to inculcate it in this generation…the government should set long term goals like the 2020 olympics and pick 2000 hopeful young athletes(below 12 years) and ensure we win atleast 20 gold in 2020
I really think that Sports cannot implement reservations. I am not sure what thoughts went into the team composition, but then it would be unfair to select a team based on caste. Ability should be the only criteria for selection at such competetive levels. I really applaud the like of Mikha Singh and Balbir Singh Senior who have won accolades for India at the highest levels. The problem with this years team composition is that the hockye team, which has a lot of players from minority communities is missing
India lacks the infrastructure for training athletes. However, some organisations stepping up for the improvement of sports in India (besides cricket) things will get better
Having good hold on IT or Cricket alone doesn’t make a country. Country should prosper in all aspects and it is all so more important to showcase that in Olympics.
As one comment mentioned, instead of dreaming for next Olympics (which none to impossible), should target 2020 and start training some 5000 children right away.
Olympics is the time which really brings great happiness (seeing how world comes together despite its problems to celebrate) and at same time, great shame for being a Indian (knowing that the medal hops is little or none).
in our country cricket is given more preference due to which games like Hockey where we were world champions has beeen neglected. i prefer that every sport has to be given equal importance because each sport has its own beauty.and all sports should be encouraged by govt and sports institutions.
Religious or caste-based reservation is NOT the answer to this or any of India’s problems. If anything, such measures have slowed India’s growth, perversely stunting the development of the very lower classes whose uplift they were designed for. In sporting terms, it cannot and must not matter what “type” of Indian you are: rich, poor, North, South, Brahmin or OBC…we are all Indians and should be united in supporting, no, DEMANDING from this government that it fund its atheletes well.then only more players will come and govt also should encourage to come more players.
The best way for the government of the day to deal with this issue is to have a clear programme, starting in 2009 to restructure the IOA, bring in foreign coaches (and the best Indians too, obviously) and radically increase the financial commitments in the budget. The IOA MUST NOT be run by former politicians awaiting their pension but by professionals who have had success in the corporate world. Only an entrepreneurial spirit can turn India’s fortune’s around to a sufficient extent. The country’s major corporations need to get behind the effort, contribute to modernising training facilities and more rigorous training schedules. The main reason for athletes NOT qualifying is lack of preparation, time and resources. Only if our sportsmen and sportswomen get enough exposure to the outside world can they compete for that record-breaking time and tear down Olympic barriers. Indians have it in them to be sporting greats. But everyone has to stop being unrealistic about it and have the same old discussion every four years. Unless India changes tack, and fast, the country will never be taken seriously as either a sporting nation or a viable candidate for hosting the Olympic Games.
sania mirza was defeated and we got one gold medal in shooting by abinav bindra.lets wait and see how many medals india can get.
and we can hope for chances in various sporting events and wish Team India a grand success in Olympics.
Response from:
Nisha Danny, Council Member on
Ammas.com
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
Hello, Lack of vision, sustained effort, lack of encouragement for sports events are some reasons why India hardly get a medal for olympics with a country of population of 1.2 billion.
Sports is not encouraged in our country. Probably the only sports our country is interested is cricket. It is because this game involves lot of money from sponsors both in India and overseas companies.
Our national game is hockey. But I doubt if any youngsters know that or is interested in it. Chance of earning livelihood from sports is very much less unless it is a team game like cricket or tennis. Our country can progress only if equal importance is given to all avenues of sports and acadamics and not academics alone.
Too much importance to academics put tremendous pressure on students to end up studying alone without even knowing of thinking about good sports activities. As a result the talent in our youngsters is hardly traced out and developed.
Lack of knowledge and impression about spots activities exists even among educated lot in India. Parents ignorance about sports leads parents to ignore sports avenue totally with more emphasis on academics.
Our country needs to set goal for olympics for that appears after next 12 years for various sports activities. Youngsters with talents need to be found out and trained with no bias on basis of caste and religion in the selection process. In other words selection criteria must only be based on talent alone. Our focus should not deviate from Olympic medals in course of time.
Sports academy on national and local level should be funded by government and local agencies. Our country should work towards a unified goal of wining more medals.
Let us hope and pray that India may win wore medals and not be satisfied with just one medal alone at this Olympics.
Response from:
s. laxmi, Featured Member on
Ammas.com
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Hi, India is a highly populated country next to China. But we are not able to produce the best atheletes. Our Indian people are very much interested in Cricket rather than any games.We are having many experts , but didn't have the opportunity to show their abilities. Politics is one of the main reason for it. We are not sending the eligible persons. The selection board should act without partiality. Then only we will be able to shine in Olymbics.
Response from:
Winnie The Pooh, Council Member on
Ammas.com
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
Dear Anonymous,
It is very sad that,in our country people,Government and media gives so much importance to Cricket than our national game hockey.The main reason why our country is unable to produce more Olympians is because the Indian Olympic Association is dominated by politicians.They dictate the terms to the players,the associations.Just recent example is the case of Monika Devi.See how politicised the issue.Atlast she was not allowed to participate in Olympics.
We are proud of Abhinav Bhindra,but see the Maharashtra government announced just Rs.10 lacs to him.Where as the cricketers get a minimum 1 crore in addition to the hefty match fees if they win any cups.The 24/7 news channels also show so much hype if the cricketers come to India after winning.From Airport to Latrine they cover each and every action of them.If you see yesterday,not much coverage is given to Abhinav in alomost all channels.
Yes we can produce more Olympians once the IOA is flushed out of politicians.Provide more training facilities to Athelete's.Swimming is more neglected sector in our country.Government should takes steps on the issues of politics,then everything will be fine for all sports in India.
Response from:
ashok vundavalli, Council Member on
APOnline
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
There are competitive atheletes in India but they are being supressed by corruption. The right talent is not being recognised. In our union and state budgets if you can see the allocation for sports is there but it isnt utilised in the way it should be utilised.
The main issue is with the corruption happening with the funds for sports and atheletics. The contigent of Bangladesh for the previous olympics held in Australia was 5 and they won 2 bronze medals. This indicates the commitment of the atheletes.
The training and shaping of the atheletes isnt upto the mark. The commitment is very poor too in the atheletes. They should be motivate first by tehmselves and by their friends and family to make it to the top position.
To achieve medals in the Olympics the main requirement is to bring the standards of training up. Hire professionals to do the trainings. Inporve the infrastructure in the training facilities. It will certainly bringh enthusiasm in the atheletes and bring medals fo India.
Response from:
Sneha Rao, Council Member on
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In India, people are not encouraged much to go into sports at young af=ge. This is mainly because an average Indian still lives his life satisfying the basic necessitioes of himself and his family and hardly gets an opportunity to pursue his hobbies.
When we are kids, our parents encourage us to study more and more. Becaus eof growing competition and overpopulation, one has to be overqualified to get a good job. We have to compromise our hobbies and sports in order to get more time for studying and as a result, ultimately, very capable people in sports get out of track from sports.
Nowadays people are becoming aware of lots of opportunities in sports. With lots of big companies sponsoring sports teams and events, people have started believing that money can be earned from this channel also and we can expect good representation from India in the next olympics!!!!!!!!
Response from:
Shreya G, Council Member on
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In our country, youngsters know that they have to struggle hard for earning their bread. This makes them more oriented towards sure-shot return jobs. Preparing for Olympics, etc. appears a risky dream for many as they cant afford the preparations and the time spent on this, and the thinking that after spending both of these things, if we fail, where will we be in our country..!!
Here, we do not get enough sponsorships for careers in sports, etc..following are the reasons why there are so few Indian Olympians:
1. Hectic school life. In India, school system is such that a kid hardly manages to complete homework and assignments and would just avoid whatever extra work he is put into, which is avoidable. So, even if one is given the opportunity by the parents, one would give up on sports sooner or later in life. International school system here serves as a good platform for sports.
2. Pressure of professional degrees/degrees that can earn if not lavish, but at least a good living for sure. Every parent wants you to be settled in life as soon as possible. Now, this is possible only with professional degrees which promise an average living at least at a very early age itself, whereas sportsman either gets huge success and a very lavish lifestyle or ends up with nothing, so we Indians cannot generally afford that risk.
3. Lack of resources in small towns. Only some of our major towns have good sports clubs and all facilities to practice and generally great talents are seen to emerge from small towns !..so here, most of the great talents are lost as they do not get the facilities they need to reach to international level.
4. Lack of availability of right coaching level. Successful coaches produce successful sportsman. In India, still we lack human resource in sports to coach well. When a person reaches International level only then he can exactly know the level of competition one has to face at that level. A coach lacking that kind of awareness cannot prepare the trainee to that level.
5. Family expectations from an Indian youth. We have a big family culture here. Youth is not left alone to decide his life for himself. His decisions are taken collectively by many elders of the family and he has to support parents, siblings, spouse, and kids...so here, a person will be considered selfish if he runs after his/her aims and neglects family's needs for the same..
6. Corruption. Selection of people to represent at state, country, or international level is not that fair out here..many talented youngsters end up losing to this corruption and most of the times, a not so deserving candidate enters the state/national level contest..so, not the best reach the international level too generally..!!!
Response from:
Geetha Gopakumar, Council Member on
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While, i typing this reponse to your query a good news came to hear from Beiging is that our Mr Abhinav Bindra winning the first ever individual gold medal for India won Gold in Rifle Shooting Event. After a 28 years thirsty waiting for a gold in individual event in Olympics, the last gold medal for India had come in 1980 Olympics in Moscow for Hockey. India has since won only 2 bronze and one silver medal.
Thanks God and our heartiest congratulations to this man, the One in 118 crores of population.
While considering our huge population/human strength, if we calculate how many Indians are actually involved in organized sport, how many in rural areas are privy to synthetic tracks and trained coaches, then we're talking much smaller numbers, how many in rural areas are privy to synthetic tracks and trained coaches, then we're talking much smaller numbers, probably the answer surrounds about the inadequate facilities providing to those who are interested to come in this field. The general saying is that Olympics participating are not for winning but taking part with sportsman spirit, but we tend to take that literally every time in to practice that we are only to participate ad we are not aimed to win. We cannot neglect this truth – the truth that India has improved on the sports field, but the world is not standing still and is not waiting for Indians to reach with them. It would be wise to start investing in sports that the majority of other nations play, and have a real sports program, rather than a cricket/or hockey program. There are very few opportunities to make a decent living in India if you are an athlete. There are very few professional leagues and unless you play for the national team and are endorsed by big corporations. Importance should be given to the children at sub-junior/junior level to convince them to participate in sports in community and in school base and to participation in sports and games in schools should make compulsory. Basically, you are forced to give up sports and just study to make ends meet. If you don't study and you are good at sports then take that big risk of playing your heart out in the hopes that someone influential will notice you and help you out. Without Govt. sponsorships to seed the popularity of sports and games and the accompanying commercial interest and providing infrastructure right from grass root level to higher, I do not think India will catch up and compete with others effectively in this great and supreme International sport and games event. It’s really a good news is that there are some new dynamics working in India spear-headed by the big businesses. Big companies like Infosys, Reliance, Tata, etc can make a big difference by sponsoring certain Olympic events and try to position India for gold in those events. Starting with the 2012 games, India can be contender if big businesses saw the value in this effort.
Response from:
Gowri Raman, Council Member on
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Hi, What ails the Indian competitive sporting is the apathy of authorities and lack of funds with the authorities.
1. Those opting for sporting hail from poor economic backgrounds, with scant food for strength and no money at all for professional coaches 2.Hundreds of Indian girls and boys are good at running and jumping, leaping and lifting and fighting. and feinting. A handful are even tough and ambitious enough to persist with an unforgiving vocation. They have to be because Indian sport chews up and spits out talent without mercy. To be the best in India, an athlete's skills must extend beyond the athletic. He must hurdle over shortages and fight over hunger and lack of encouragement.
3. He must be a fighter and survivor. All this even before he can dream of pulling on a tracksuit with the Olympic rings on it.
4. If there is a single theme running through India's stories at the Olympics it is defeat by inches, by milliseconds. Those who discourage our athletes are not always richer, but merely better trained and better looked after by the masters of their game. Olympic champions stand on the steady shoulders of those ready to let them enjoy the view at the top. Indians stagger because they stand on a tower of sand.
It was said efforts were on until the very last moment to try and include P.T. Usha among the list of torch bearers as the Olympic flame passed through Delhi on its way to Greece. India's most successful female athlete had become an afterthought on the list of those who get to carry the Olympic flame. That is the condition of Indian sporting.
Indian sport is in the hands of the bureaucrats and businessmen looking for power and control over the fates of others. The financial grants are meagre and the coaches are inefficient. The following must be tried: -Let the politicians in federations handle policy, but let professionals handle implementation. -Make the federations accountable for failures and accept grant freeze -Seek expert advisers for the Sports Ministry to plan the career charts for the best athletes. -Revamp coaching methods. We have a very long way to go.
Response from:
KG Anand, Council Member on
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In India we donot give much importance to Games, Sports and other physical fitness exercises. It is also not given any prominince at our home, school and society. We donot identify the budding sportsmen due to this attitude of ours and lack of facilities at School, College, University levels. The state and Central Governments also donot care much for giving rise to sports. There is meagre budget alloted for these at all levels. Cricket is an exception because that has become a money generating business and the BCCI has large funds earned by organizing and participating in Cricket, but our national game Hockey has lost its past glory and we are not even qualified to participate in Olympic Hocky because hockey did not generate money like cricket and now it is at the lowest level ever. The other main reason is the dirty politics in sports which demoralises the deserving sportsmen and the undeserving get patronage. The Top functioneries of any sports organization is either a politician or a beurocrat or retired undeserving person who has no knowledge of the sports background which spoils the small % of the really deserving candidates interest. The allowances, diet and facilities given to the sportsmen are very low and cannot attract good upcoming player to make it as his career. These and some other similar pathetic practices make sports the last choice of good, fit, intelligent youngsters to be drawn towards sports in general with exception of cricket which is not an olympic game and we fare dismally in the international arena.God Bless.
Response from:
Suba S, Council Member on
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
The overall population & the countless number of talents may be considered as a greatest positive for India .The problem lies in identifying the talents & training them There isnt much done in identifying talents, If there is someone in India who can acheive in olympics in India , it can be said that its only because of individual efforts There are unidentified/untrained talents everywhere . lack of sponsors also accounts to major problem ,Only if someone rises to a visible level in sports by his/her own efforts (for this the person must be well-off), can they expect some sponsors . Everyone doesnot have the money to support themselves in availing the facilities for their training.There must be sponsors to consistently support young talents .Identifying talents is work half done . Training the players is the second step .This needs infrastructure.There are so much attention & money that goes into cricket ,Even one fourth of efforts into improving the standards of other games would make a difference. Encouragement & consistent backing up is needed. Identifying / Training must start at an young stage , the most apt place to start from would be school & local organizations who can volunteer to help the community they live in .Infrastructure is another area to focus on which may greatly improve our sporting standards.
Response from:
Tanu , Council Member on
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
No offense taken but we Indians arent that focused and lack the determination and dedication when it comes to sports. We are easily satisfied and our talented players get happy with even the little bit that they are able to achieve. There seems to be a lack of personal drive to reach the zenith. We try to be better than the others but never the best. This isnt the case with just sports. It applies to many fields. I am sorry to be so outspoken but I am also like that and all the people that I know. We excel when it comes to using brains but otherwise we are happy to be just a little more than the average.
One reason could be our education system. The focus is always on getting good grades. So we get so used to that kind of attitude which is hard to change. Tell me how many families will encourage their kids at an early age to pursue sports as a career if they are good in it?
I feel we need to change our outlook and attitude if we want to get even close to the Chinese or the Americans or the South Africans etc.
in india most of the people are think that "we can get a gold medal or atleast a silver medal" in this type of thinking people are living and some are whether i m able to get a medal but the support is not given to the players... our governament has to take an action regarding the olympics to train the people who are eligible and train the people that they can get the medal ..
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