Response from:
Shreya G, Council Member on
Ammas.com
Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
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:
N ., Featured Member on
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Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
In over 100 years, India has won just three individual medals. None gold. This makes little sense to the world. We have stadiums and astro turfs. It's just that they could be in better shape. So fine, we lack high-quality scientific back-ups, yet in comparison to some African and Asian countries, we're privileged. In India there is hardly any encouragement for all rounded development of children. Kids from middle class end up studying all their life to fulfill their parent's wishes. Children from the tribal regions (who happen to be good at sports and also very poor) end up not getting any proper facilities, probably because there is no concept of any sports scholarship. 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. If this doesn't happen then end up in a slum in Bombay or Delhi. Most athletes who win an Olympic medal start their training still during their high school years. In the U.S. public high schools have swimming pools, track and field areas, soccer, baseball fields, and almost every other sport one may want to participate in. Different from almost every other country in the world, who cannot or simply do not support such expenditure. Likewise is the situation during college period.
Thus most Olympic athletes come to the U.S. for training, where not only their is an outstanding structure for practice, but their is also leagues who compete against each other, pushing athletes further -- something that other countries also lack.
India has no structured governmental expenditure in sports for teenagers during their high school or college years. Their university is focused in technology development, not sports competition.
India's problems stem from its climate of corruption. Whether it's political office, or a job, or a spot on the hockey team - your chance of getting selected has more to do with who you know, than how good you are. While it is not that unusual for a country that is only 61 years past colonialism to be corrupt, the corruption does become harder to navigate in such a large country. India's size actually works against it.
Response from:
Anonymous , Council Member on
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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
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:
mrs.ram s, Featured Member on
Ammas.com
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
The reason why India has not been able to do well in Olympics is attributable to a number of factors. One main reason has been that the Government and private sector has not been pumping money for sports. Apart from money what we need is a also a thing called vision. I do not think many people remember the decision taken by the Australian government in the 1980s for revitalizing sports. They poured money, build infrastructure and ensured that sport authorities respond to certain performance standards.
The result is that today Australia is good in nearly all sports, cricket, rugby, tennis, swimming and even football. We need to learn from this and move on. Here the government should create the congenial atomsphere for letting the private sector to take the lead in training our young sportsmen and women. One suggestion is for providing tax breaks for private sector for sponsoring sportsmen and secondly not just building the infrastructure but ensuring their sustainability. Many of the projects created in Banaglore for National Games are now in a hopeless shape.
Government should not meddle excessively but should provide the framework for innovative approaches.
Olympics comes after every 4 years, and we, Indians wake up after every 4 years. We expect to win few medals in every Olympics, but end up with a single medal, probably by chance rather than design. As 2008 Olympics is coming to an end, we again probably end up with a single medal by Abhinav Bindra. Even though Abhinav saved our skin with exemplary display to win the gold medal, our expectations relies only on our lady luck rather than well focused approach to win the medal.
When can we see many images like this ? On last Sunday, I read an article on ” What we need to do if we want to win medals in Olympics”. The article talks about two models which we can adopt. One is a Chinese model, where we have to concentrate on low profile,medal rich games like weightlifting,shooting,rowing etc and give rigorous training to the aspirants.It is said that Chinese rigorously train children right from the age of 4-5 years only on the sole intention of winning a Olympic Medal. Second model is an American model, where we need to go for funding of sports at base level and then encourage people to take up sports.The article was well written. Probably India has to use mixture of both these models to win medals.The article allows me to think on what is necessary for Indian sports.
I remember as a child, I was always encouraged to study and discouraged to take up sports. I would not blame my parents for this. It is a universal phenomenon in every household throughout the country. The reason is very clear. The sports never offered you a job or a career. If you take sports as a prime career and fail in that,you are always at a risk of ending as a jobless person. In contrast we were told to study hard and go for engineering or medicine fields and excel there. Primary reason off course was to get a very good job and settle in life. Hence our parents had no other option but to push us to perform in studies and always discouraged(??) us from taking up sports. Not only parents, even schools also viewed sports in a similar manner.
But today time has changed and so is life. The job opportunities are plenty and hence choosing sports as a career is relatively not tough, if not easy. However many other things need to be done. I started to list down few of the things we need to do if we want to win medals at Olympics.
1. Commercialization of sports
We have seen how a sports business model work and cricket is an example. The cash starved BCCI, started commercialization of Cricket in late 1980s and today it is one of richest sports body. Similar commercialization of other sports should be done. The prime challenge here is off course generating interest among public for a particular sport. Once a high profile professional league ( like IPL) is started, it tend to generate interest among public and then a automatic cycle starts with more and more funds coming in and generating interest among public to both participate and view these sports. Another example is the success of reality TV Shows. The success of these shows and the fame it bring in allowed many parents to encourage their children to take up singing and dancing very seriously.The sports need to be in a same league as entrainment Industry and it need to be seen as a Business.
2. Rural sports promotional programs.
If we analyse, most of our sportsmen come from rural background. Two prime reasons are
Unlike urban men and women , who have various options for career growth, the same is limited for rural men & women. Hence they tend to go look for alternatives to low profile agriculture. Hence inclination towards sports naturally comes to them. Second reason is the rough and tough life they live. The urban men and women live a very sophisticated life and hence their body does not easily adjust to rigorous training for a particular sport. In contrast, the rural men and women live a rough and tough life right from the beginning and their body easily adjust to rigorous training. Hence there is a need to put in lot of focus on developing sports infrastructure at rural parts of the country. Best idea is to start rural sports academy with the basic facilities. This will help us to identify few potential candidates and then they can be trained further in a more structured manner.
3. Identify the body structure- sports relationship.
Why always Kenyans win long distance races and Jamaicans wins short distance races ?. This is because their body structure helps them. Similar is the case of Chinese in gymnastics and diving. We need to do an exercise to identify which group of people can fit in to a particular sport. Traditionally Kerala and Punjab produced many athletes as their body structure helps them in athletics. More focus is required in these states to produce high quality athletes. Similarly Punjab, Maharastra and Karnataka produced many players in Hockey and hence focus is required in these states for hockey.
4. Corporate sponsoring
The sports can not survive unless until funding is enough and government alone can not fund. The big corporate houses have to come forward to sponsor budding athletes and provide them with both funds and job security. This has to be a part of their corporate social responsibility.
5. Government Initiatives
Do you remember when the last National games held and who won the medals ? Probably not !. This is because the government has not taken any initiatives to popularise the National Games. A lot of things need to be done from Government side also.
Response from:
a b, Council Member on
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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
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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:
tweety pie, Featured Member on
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I agree to the fact that India is unable to produce Olympic representations. The reasons are as follows:
1. Lack of sports academies: We don't find good sports coaching academies everywhere in India. While metro cities do have these, people from remote villages and towns cant arrange for such facilities and are discouraged at very young age. As a result most of the talented athletes quit sports at the age of 14-15.
2. Lack of funding for sports training: Many capable athletes are not able to attain fame bacause they cant afford to attract publicity and have to engage in different low level jobs just to have a regular income to sustain them.
3. Government Policies: While state governments in India can manage to give a medalist of Olympics good amount of money as award, they hardly involve in training and development of upcoming athletes. Even in schools, sports are just kept as a formality.
4. Too muct popularity of a specific game: In India, most of the fundings in sports sector are wasted on Cricket because of its popularity. Thus, sportsmen engaged in other games hardly receive attention and facilities.
Response from:
Usha Jain, Featured Member on
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At the first class level in India, there is no support system for the players. A former India player told me once when I went to meet him that his biggest mistake was that he did not finish education before going on to pursue cricket. Obviously, if he had the qualifications, he would have retired much earlier than he did, trying to earn a proper living.
Hardly 5-6 players can command a place in the national team for a span of 10 years. There is money in the game, yes, but is there really money then to support the careers of at least the state level cricketers? The way the money is currently distributed, the answer is no.
The plight of other sports in India
Rajyawardhan Rathore, silver medalist at Athens' 2004 Games in the men's double trap event, did it with an attitude few people have or are expected to have. He did not receive much support. Despite that he did not criticize the authorities and made the best of what he got, staying undeterred. When people see a Sania Mirza in India sport today, they do not realize the expenses players have to deal with when they are not 'stars'.
To gain points a player has to travel far and wide and for it the player requires money. Add to that the money required to be paid to the best coaches from the world for proper grooming. Sponsors are necessary. The tragedy is, sponsors only come in once the player has become a star or is on the verge of becoming a star. Even after some one has achieved success, a sponsor can back out as was the case with Konery Humpy, India's finest young chess talent. (though chess is not an Olympic sport, this shows the difficulties players face)
Why does money and infrastructure need to come up in a country where so many people are poor?
Sport brings in joy, which is priceless. The joy the Brazilian kid gets playing football or the Indian counterpart gets hitting a six is unmatched. In that moment he forgets all hardships. Another argument brought up was regarding money invested in sports. Gaurav commented in the same article:
I believe spending money to compete at top athletic events that require insane amount of money is perverted for a country coming to terms with over 300 million people living below poverty.
If India had that attitude, India would not even have had the base for winning the World Cup in 1983. That victory propelled a cricket craziness in India and money coming in through privatization of broadcasts in the mid '90s, the Wills World Cup happening in 1996. Hosting a big sporting event means the growth of infrastructure, tie ups with companies and jobs to many people. Sport is an industry in itself, even if you leave aside that it also brings joy to many people in the process.
Response from:
Meena v, Council Member on
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This is one area where the female half can hope to achieve laurels for themselves and the country. In the Chinese games, out of 51 golds, more than half of those were earned by the female part of the contingent. I am looking at it from the Better half's point of view as I am sure the women were unable to win even one, that is sports is not encouraged enough among the men , then Women Sports is even more activley discouraged in our country.
But in India look at the females who have actively participated, they are not recognized, they don't get endorsements, they need a Mandira Bedi or a Shoba De to recommend Women sports! those who have very little to do with sports other than entertainment, these women may have been involved in the past, but have they chosen sports as careers , the answer to that is a clear no.
Do you have active sport writers who are women? Those who have been involved at grassroots and are involved , the answer to that is a no. Hopefully this will change in the future.
A major part of my growing up years along with education was spent in getting funds allocated to sporting activities from the college authorities in power, be it the principal or otherwise........... To get sports field cleared off the weeds and grass in time for the annual sports meet was a big achievement. Instead it would be nice to have schools and colleges geared to sporting events as a norm and not as an exception. Do we need reservation for sporting activities to promote it, maybe the answer is a yes.
Lack of media interest in sports, this is due to lack of interest in sporting events themselves. Sports related achievements are unfortunatley not treated on par with other achievements such as Miss Indias. Even a former great athlete such as PT Usha was not able to get huge endorsements. Was it because per capita income for the average Indian was low at the time, and the Indian female/male was not actively leading a physically active life and hence would not buy those products endorsed by sports people, was it because of the Advertisers, the front and back benchers, who are content at promoting a homeamaker type of image but not an aggressive sports person type of image, one would not know. But a below-average person in other fields such as Acting is able to get quite a few. We as Indians are obsessed with a few fields and hence choose to concentrate our attention on those.
Even locally, we do not recognize domestic talent, sport, competitions, and hence do not reward talent for their achievements. As a result the talent goes undetected, and even if detected, lack of funds at local level, does not encourage many to actively pursue it as career. Some of the affluent males in the India manage to actively enroll in gyms and clubs and follow it as a hobby. You can forget the other half, the females involement in physical activiites such as sports. The only involvement they have are in kitty parties or card membership games.Some of them actively walk.
Lack of planning both public and private partnership in holding sports related events, marketing , funding, etc.Cricket is the exception to the rule, not the norm. Even then, Women's cricket is at the doldrums.
Even today most of our concentration for future is education, 90% and above for the children and push them to become engineers or doctors. Puruing sports is viewed as a risky alternative. Many would like to pursue it as a hobby after one were financially settled in life.
What should we in India do to change this course or pattern?
Many of the universities need to encourage sports scholarships, that which can fund education, also both in private and public other than what we see, we need to promote inter corporate rivalry, inter state rivalry - healthy and friendly in nature amongst sporting activities. Then maybe our Cauvery water issue, or J & K rivalry would be reduced to sporting ones instead of blood shed we see in the streets.
We need to demarcate more area amongst our local and private spaces with proper sporting gear, shoes and rackets, provided or accompaniments to various form of sports. Above all we need clean administrators and a systems that does not lend itself to corruption. All this has to change at the grassroots level, which will take time and effort and human will both politically and otherwise.
Hopeflly this will happen with future per capita rise in income and Indians can look forward to watching and viewing on the media many such activities. Until then we can see them in the minority such as Anjum in cricket,Sania in tennis, Anju Bobby George in athletics, and Saina Nehwal in badminton. These are pioneers and hopefully many more will take up sports as a profession and are able to bring credits to the country and women sports is given due recognition in addition to other fields and a place under the sun in India.
Response from:
Geetha Gopakumar, Council Member on
Ammas.com
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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:
kar fomby, Council Member on
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This information comes from my own knowledge.
1. Encouragement: Family members and parents should encourage the extra curricular activities to kids in addition to the academic education from a very young age. Children should be taught that one can become professional not only through academic but also through sports.
2. Physical Strength: I believe Indians genetically lack physical strength. At least for the coming generations, care should be taken by providing nutritious and enough food to take care of physical strength
3. Opportunities: As against the other nations there is lack of opportunities in India that puts brakes for those who want to compete. Family members, corporate world and Government should encourage and provide enough opportunities for those who want to compete.
4. Talent Search: Raw talent exists in the remote areas of India. Every effort should be made to harness that talent.
5. Practice and Hard Working: There is a general lack of hard working and Go Getter attitude. A change in the culture and attitude needs to be brought for at least the coming generations. This should start from the home and Schools…
6. Self Belief and Positive Attitude: Look at the Self confidence and Positive attitude shown by Olympians Doug Louganis in spite of their set backs during the Olympics. Indians should learn from them first to get in to the Olympics and then to win the competition.
Response from:
DS Mathur, Council Member on
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Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
Unlike Australia and USA, India is not a country where sports are followed and played ardently and with vigour. Here each child has to go in for a job for which he has equip himself as well as he can. Parents too therefore badger, cajole and coerce their children into doing much much better than what they themselves have done in their youth. Competitiveness has driven children away from fields of sports and rightly too so since most of the sports do not promise a career and future in India. The only sport that has overwhelmed all others is cricket where huge money has taken over merit and ethics of the sport. It is unfortunately turning into a major racket where the only rule of the game is success at making money, means do not matter.Consequently, children are turning to lure of Bombay cinema. Lurid and vulgar music, dance and comedy competitions have taken over the young generation in a major way. Thus there is no attraction for a young person to take up sports that could take him to the olympics. How many parents have the kind of wherewithal like Abhinav Bindra's to provide their ward the best of world class facilities at home.Even Indian cricket world is a study in contrasts. The demi-gods who have made to the top have become complacent as they have made more than what they had imagined in their wildest dreams. They are more interested in their shoots and commercial ventures now than to care for matches and their performance at those matches. The thrust of their names keeps them going. Cases in point-Ganguli, Tendulkar and Yuvraj. Hence aspiring and meritorious have to cool their heels on the sidelines and wait for their turns interminably. The demi-gods brook no intrusion of these nonentities in their midst. No other game has any attraction in India to the young. We must follow the ways of the Chinese. They have emerged as the top most country in the world in the arena of sports. In this Olympic they have pushed even USA behind. What is their method-create world class facilities at few select places, locate talent at virtually tender age and train and coach him relentlessly with single minded zeal, make a few persons responsible and allow no interference from self appointed and self seeking individuals, only merit should be criterion for selection ect. Unless we get down to the brass tacks we will even be denied of the bronze.
Response from:
Suba S, Council Member on
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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.
That's a fantastic question. I think there is no one correct answer for this. There are a lot of thngs... For starters, Sports Administration in India is really in a pathetic state. It is run by politicians rather than by real Sports Administrators. A case in study is the pathetic manner in which the doping test was conducted on Monica Devi. Subsequently it was proved that she did not dope, but she could not make it to the Olympics because of this goof-up.
What action do you think would be taken against these officials for destroying the dream of an athlete? Nothing. These same people would be there to select the athlete for the next Olympics and seeing the state of Monica, these athletes would do whatever these people demand rather than concentrate on their event!! Another great example is the Hockey Federation which is just a mockery!!
Next up, coming to sports facilities, in India sports infrastructure is absolutely minimal and this is a big let down for our athletes. Imagine an athlete having to travel 20-30 kilometers to reach a stadium to practice. What will left of the athlete when he reaches the stadium? Nothing. Again take the example of hockey. 6 years back India had 2-3 Astro-turfs in India which is the turf on which the game has been played for the last decade or so. In comparison Netherlands had more than 1000 astro-turfs and Netherlands is just as big as one state in India!!
Last, but not the least, is the fact that sports is still not a viable career in India. What does an ace Volleyball player or Archer get in India? He gets a job in either Railways or Services as a clerk, officer depending on his/her grade. Is this enough motivation to perform at the highest level? Probably not.
This then is the sad story of India sports my friend.
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:
Anu Babu, Council Member on
Ammas.com
Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
Hi.,
Yes nice question.Only very very few indians take part in olympics. This is mainly due to the government.There is no proper way shown by our gov, for the players who take part in games other than cricket.
See how cricket has gained popualrity when hockey is our national game?? There is no support., either financially., or mentally to players.Thats why people fear to take part in games.It needs a lot of finance to be spend in startign stages for that there is no help from gov.
Truth is, we have stadiums and astro turfs. It's just that, well, they could be in better shape. So fine, we lack high-quality scientific back-ups, yet in comparison to some African and Asian countries, we're privileged.
Shooting for gold? Indian rifle woman Anjali Bhagwat Of course, one might merely claim we're just not an athletic nation (thus slyly suggesting we're a cerebral one). India has improved on the sports field, but the world is not standing still. India has few athletes who deserve to go to Athens but there's a fair chance it will send a plane-load. Baron de Coubertin said the Olympics were not about winning but taking part, but we tend to take that literally.
Gold may not arrive but that question about population and medals will. This is what you say: "India won its first individual medal in 1952. It took 44 years to win another in 1996. But then took only four years to win its third at the very next Games in 2000. If that's not progress, then what is?"
International sports like the Olympics today is highly professional which demands absolute dedication from sportsmen and women and a whole range of world class supporting infrastructure, not to speak of a winning frenzy from top to bottom, from grassroot level to higher ups. But apart from cricket, I don't think there are any sports in India that exude such a frenzy. In most school sports is still an extracurricular activity, not encouraged by overly academic focused parents or teachers, and is still not considered as a profession for life. Most Indians would rather spend spare time watching Bollywood film than exercising or playing sports. Here in Australia and New Zealand I see a totally different culture where most people dedicate much of their weekends to outdoor and sports related activities. No wonder these countries with a fraction of Indian population win in each Olympics more medals than India has ever in Olympic history. I don'think it is lack of facilities or talent among Indians but a lack of a culture that nurtures sports. This requires a massive mental shift among Indians. Until then Indians will be only chasing a mirage, not medals, in sports like the Olympics.
Response from:
Swati Gupta, Featured Member on
Ammas.com
Source:
This information comes from my own knowledge.
Most Commonwealth nations have performed poorly at the Winter Olympics. Apart from Canada who had won 31 golds and was at number 10 in the all time Winter Olympic medal table before the games started, Commonwealth nations have had little to show. Poor performances at the Winter Olympics is not an India specific or South Asia specific phenomena.
Great Britain have won 8 golds in all, and among them are medals from an era when not many nations competed in the Olympics. Australia hadn't won a medal before 1994. Australia loves its sport passionately and evidence of that is its improvement in the Winter Olympics. 40 athletes are competing for Australia at the Torino games, almost double the size in recent times. However, I might add that the latest gold medal winner for Australia, Dale Begg-Smith, is Canadian born.
What about the other nations? New Zealand is at number 36 with a solo silver in a tally of 38 nations which had won medals before the current Olympics started. Countries like Norway, Austria, Finland and Sweden have extreme cold conditions unlike a Great Britain or Australia which explains the vast difference in medal counts in winter sports.
The fact that India has sent out 4 participants for the Torino Games is a big enough achievement considering the bare facts. India does have the Himalayas, but how many skiing resorts exist?
Summer Olympics
The wonder cannot be put to rest with the Winter Olympics, however. With a population of 1.1 billion, India still has not managed to win a single individual gold at the Summer Olympics.The reason which is usually given? India is a one sport nation.
Is India really a one sport (cricket) nation?
Cricket is played on every street in India. Go to the cities, villages, sea beaches, deserts, or mountains - everywhere you will find children playing cricket. Why then, can India not produce cricketers who are better than cricketers of the rest of the world combined, if all its sporting resources are going to cricket?
To begin with, there is hardly any infrastructure, and talent is not tapped. If it is tapped, it is not groomed well enough. This has changed recently with cricketers coming from outside the major cities like Sehwag, R.P. Singh and Suresh Raina. The fact remains though, that for every Sehwag there are countless kids playing with rubber balls whose talent is not tapped and do not know what playing with a proper cricket ball is.
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