Internationally India has been given the tag of \u2018non-athletic nation\u2019\nbecause of its consistent poor performance before the world audience in the\nsports events. India has 17% of the world population but it could only win\n0.31% of the total gold medals in reputed competitions. Thus, there is an\nurgent need for a strategy that can help India win more golds in sports. It is\nimportant to understand \u2018why\u2019 India has not been able to get more golds before\nanswering \u2018how\u2019 to get them. Well, the sportsmen and women in India often\ncomplain about lack of adequate sources, funds, infrastructure, equipment,\nsponsorship and encouragement for sports and games other than cricket in the\ncountry. Corruption, political intervention and unwillingness of sports\nauthorities are also cited as the root causes. Inadequate training programmes\nand practice sessions which do not meet international standards are said to be\nanother reason for dismal performance in sports. Besides the above, another\nmost important reason is the discouragement and disinterest showed by parents\nand teachers to their children\u2019s interest in sports and games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solutions to these problems lie in addressing or targeting the\nabove problems. In the first place, parents and teachers should make an extra\neffort to identify a child\u2019s inclination towards sports. Children of all ages\nshould be encouraged to actively participate in sports as it will help in their\noverall physical and mental development. Schools should include sports as an\nintegral part of their curriculum. Sports competitions should be held at local\nand regional levels, and students interested in a particular game should be\nprovided with further training. This can help children cultivate sportsmanship\nqualities and also gain experience in the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, the State and Central governments should provide adequate\nfunds and resources for upgraded training programmes, necessary infrastructure,\nequipment and other facilities to sportspersons. For instance, the government\nand sports authorities in China have planned towards winning gold[s] in the\nsports of swimming, track, rowing, kayaking and sailing. Under this project,\nintensive training on a par with international standards is provided to\nathletes and participants of various games. India needs to design and implement\nsuch goal-oriented projects to clinch more golds in sports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thirdly, all the encouragement, resources and participation would go\nwaste without a proper coach. The nuances and tricks of the game can only be\nlearnt from a good trainer. Even in the \u2018Mahabharata\u2019, the great Indian epic, a\nmaster-archer like Arjuna was trained by his versatile teacher, Dronacharya.\nHence, trainers with good performance record, experience and exposure to\nnational and international sports should be appointed as sports coach to train\nthe athletes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to this, steps should be taken to control \u2018corruption\u2019\nwhich has made its way into every part of human life including sports and\ngames. Sanctioning and providing adequate funds are such steps but utilising\nthem efficiently for the purpose meant, is an altogether different step.\nAccounts should be audited to ensure proper utilisation of funds. Authorities\nholding positions in sports organisations, associations and selection\ncommittees should be held accountable and punished in the event of any misuse\nof the allocated funds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, favouritism and bias in selection of team members,\nappointment of trainers, etc. should be strictly discouraged. It should be\nensured that the only criterion for selecting a player or a coach on the team\nshould be his\/her performance record and definitely not his\/her personal\nbackground or relation with the members of Selection Committee. Care should be\ntaken to not repeat cases like Monica Devi, a wrestler from Manipur, who was dropped\nfrom the Indian contingent to 2008 Beijing Olympics in the last minute. The\nissue is yet to be solved. Such incidents can lead to resentment among players.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sports in India should expand and reach beyond cricket. Cricket has\nmanaged to attract huge fanfare, reputed brand names for sponsorship and\npopular celebrities like industrialists and Bollywood actors. Cash-rich Indian\nPremier League bears testimony to this. Similar treatment is due to be accorded\nto other sports. Private sponsors including domestic and multinational\ncompanies should be invited to offer sponsorship to sportspersons of other\ngames. Wide publicity should be given to other sports by broadcasting them on\ntelevision. Medal-winning performance should be duly rewarded by the Central\nand State governments. However, in spite of all the hurdles and hiccups, some\nof our players have created history. This clearly shows that without obstacles,\nIndia would be able to attain a good position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can be seen that India won 2 medals (silver) in Olympics in 1900\nwith only 1 athlete representing India. Then after winning 1 medal in every\nOlympics from 1928 to 1948 (all were Gold) we managed to win 2 medals again in\n1952. The next jump in this number only came in the year of 2008 where we won 3\nmedals (1 Gold). India then rejoiced with 6 medals in 2012, but could win just\n2 in 2016. The performance of Indian athletes at Olympics has become a popular\ntopic of discussion and debate. Many believe that India has not performed well\nat Olympics and there are some fundamental changes that are required to improve\nthe situation. However, equally, many also believe that winning two medals at\nOlympics in 2016 is a great achievement and we should celebrate it along with\nworking to win more medals in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whatever the take may be one thing that everyone believes is that the\nperformance in the future has to be improved. With this (once in four years)\nconcern of improving sports performance of India, people are jumping to\nsolutions without understanding the problem. Some of the solutions proposed\nrecently are: India will have to wait till 2050 and let the GDP reach the level\nsimilar to that of the medal-winning nations, improvement of the sports\ninfrastructure is the only solution, right attitude of the policy makers and\nimplementers will do wonders and the upliftment of women in the society is the\nsolution. All these solutions are valid and will definitely make an impact on\nthe sports performance. However these solutions will not work in isolation.\nThere is a need to first identify the problems in the present system and\nunderstand how they are interconnected to each other to be finally able to\npropose non-isolated solutions and an implementation plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We should identify the process that is involved in creating medal-winners.\nBased on that process, we should identify the key groups or stakeholders. We\nshould create a framework of these groups and highlight the interlinkages. We\nshould understand the status quo in the groups and set goals, which will lead\nus to enlist solutions to fill the gap in the two. Of course the solutions will\nhave to be looked in totality and not just in isolation. We should implement\nthe identified solution, learn from implementation and make necessary changes.\nPeople and specially parents should develop interest in sports. They should\nfollow sports and should even encourage their kids to follow them. Parents\nshould understand that the idea of playing sports is an essential part of life.\nThe benefits of sports\u2014from good health to complementary skill\ndevelopment\u2014should be recognised and appreciated. As a result, they should\nstart supporting their kids to play sports irrespective of the age. When more\nand more parents start playing themselves and spend money on sports it will\nmake sports economically viable. Parents should get convinced that sports may\nbe one of the possible options for their kids to make great careers and earn\nenough money to lead a comfortable life even if they do not reach the highest\nlevel of performance. The right system of coaches, academies, tournaments and\nclubs should identify the talent in the kids. This system should then work on\ngrooming the identified talents with the objective of making a mark in the\nworld and they get necessary support from government and private institutions.\nKids should start competing locally and gradually climb the ladders of\ncompetitions. In case some kids do not reach the higher level they still get\nopportunities to make a living out of their dedication to sports. General\npopulation along with influencers like corporates, celebrities etc. should\nsupport and appreciate the participation of the sportspersons in the\ncompetitions irrespective of the result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
More golds can be won with the help and support of corporates, celebrities that influence the thoughts and decisions of people to take sports as a career as well as keeping the energy in sports alive among general population. Coaches, academies and clubs should identify and groom talents. The champions who win medals in competitions can also give back to sports society by helping it grow and reach newer heights and motivate other sportspersons. Parents, kids including recreational sports players can provide talent leads. Government policies and private investments can\u00a0 indeed help to make the system viable and bring the necessary resources to the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Internationally India has been given the tag of \u2018non-athletic nation\u2019 because of its consistent poor performance before the world audience in the sports events. India has 17% of the world population but it could only win 0.31% of the total gold medals in reputed competitions. Thus, there is an urgent need for a strategy that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}