India a new Rising power in sports?

[IndoUS]

Without any sugar coating, the problem is simple people are more worried about getting a job in India, and studying hard to move up the social and economic ladder. As till now people didn't had the time to think about sports or Olympics. Sports are not given the same amount of attention like they are given in western countries, or Eastern Asian Countries like China, Japan, and South Korea. And the reason being is they are far more developed than the South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. As countries develop and people start to settle into a bit of a more controlled and stable life style you will see an increase in the performance in sports.

Government and Schools also have a big role to play in this. There are very little college competitions, or school competitions. Sure school is about learning but they should also promote a good sport and athletic system. The only sports that I played growing up in India were Cricket, Hockey and Football and some times kabaddi. Not because we wanted to only play these games, but because these were the only one offered in the school. The infrastructure is also a problem. School can't afford to make gyms for students like they have in US. So the weight falls on the government to atleast build and provide a proper training facility for athletes in each and every state to try to tap into the talent.

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

Now, India is at 46th Rank with three bronze and one silver medal.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

India has a lot of potential, but the politicians and bureaucrats are holding them back.

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

 

[yyetttt]

India's Olympics shame, once again

India has the world's second largest population, and yet it placed 55th out of 79 countries that won medals at the London Olympics. Our athletes brought home six medals, with no gold medals. As a result, we were firmly in the bottom third of the table. Why does a country with so many people do so badly in international competition?

Those who worry their heads about these things, and even those who don't, identify a variety of reasons for our rather sad tally. One of the favourites is that physical factors conspire against us - our tropical climate and our genes. The problem here is that there are several countries above us in the Olympic standings that have tropical-like climates ( Iran, Jamaica, Ethiopia) and that have people who are as skinny and spindly as Indians (see Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tunisia, Algeria).

A second argument is cultural. Indians, we are told, are just not "sporty". We apparently despise physical exertion, don't like to compete ("no killer instinct"), are intellectual and spiritual, and so on. This is quite an attractive logic, and i quite often resort to it myself when i am assailed by contemptuous foreigners. But the truth is that the ordinary Indian exerts enormously just to keep body and soul together. In a country of scarcities, we are spectacularly competitive, always desperate to nose ahead in a queue. And just look at our children who are no more intellectual or spiritual than any other nationality but are driven to average 99% in their board examinations!

A third set of arguments is more sociological and relates to our attitudes to the kinds of sports represented at the Olympics. There are those who suggest that Indians don't respect these sports. This is the "cricket argument". For some reason, we only truly value cricket. Our youngsters, teachers, media, sports sponsors and governments are mad about cricket, and nothing else seemingly matters. The difficulty here is: which came first? Did cricket rise in public esteem because we did well at it, or did we fall in love with cricket, leading to its rise?

Finally, there is the view that, as in so many things, it is our wretched politics and administration that lets us down. Above all, our sports authorities don't select the best sportsmen because they are obsessed with the proper caste, ethnic, religious and regional balance in our teams. They are also corrupt, and so the money that should be spent on the proper infrastructure lines their pockets instead. Worse, the government fails to identify talent at a young age, to cultivate and support it, and to provide scientific and rigorous training.

Most educated Indians today would probably agree that this is the core of the problem and that in every sphere of life our political and administrative class botches it all. This is of course close to the truth and does explain a lot, though you wonder if sports governance in Kazakhstan, Jamaica, North Korea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Tunisia, Algeria, Bahamas, Grenada and Uganda, all of whom placed higher than India, can be much better. These are not exactly the gold medal winners in the league table of political governance!

Climate, genes, culture and social values play a part in winning, but in the end to win at sports requires extended financial and public support. In the 1996 Olympics, Britain won one gold medal! In 2012, it won 29 and placed third in the final table, in large part because a UK lottery poured money into sports after 1984. China, which has risen so marvellously, spends hugely on developing sports at every level, from the everyday school level to the international competitive level. Both countries encourage sports widely.

We in India have restricted sports facilities and training to a few. It is no accident that the only sport where we do well is cricket. Cricket is a middle-class game, and it therefore gets the money, expertise and glamour. When we in the middle class moan about our sports performance in the Olympics, we should look at ourselves. In the end, it is us, the rich and privileged, who are the cause of our country's sporting shame.


Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-...-olympics-shame-once-again.html#ixzz23gBzWcjX

 

[Hindustani]

India has a lot of potential, but the politicians and bureaucrats are holding them back.

I second that

If one of India's state (Haryana) can produce 70% of the Olympic athletes, imagine what the entire country is capable of.
Hopefully things will change over time, the cricket craze needs to calm down a bit

 

[Peaceful Civilian]

the cricket craze needs to calm down a bit

Cricket craze can't calm down. Forget it. Be ready for T10 cricket series.

 

[ajtr]

Olympians, politicians and babus

By DE Nizamuddin

Photo op for politicos

Politicians love to bask in the glory of others. They fought over the six medal winners of the London Olympics like Kilkenny cats, with each VVIP wanting exclusive photo op with them. The Indian Olympics Association saw a divide down the middle on the question as to whom the six should be taken to for the so-called felicitations over tea and samosas. When those habitually inclined towards the establishment suggested that the first stop for the winners has to be 10 Janpath, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, officiating chief of the IOA in the absence of Suresh Kalmadi, put his foot down, saying in that case they will have to call on LK Advani as well. Trapped, they agreed reluctantly to escort the six along with the rest of the contingent to Advani’s house after the call at Sonia Gandhi’s.

Of course, the Prime Minister had to be on the itinerary of the harassed lot who haven’t had a moment to themselves after their return from London. But how the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar figured in this conducted tour of Lutyens’s Delhi remains a mystery. Since she has most unabashedly exploited her office and the television channel under her control to promote herself as also to build a cult around her late father, Jagjivan Ram, Kumar, in turn, sent out invitations to other VVIPs to join her when the Olympians came calling. You could watch obligatory extensive coverage of her mingling with the six medal winners on the Lok Sabha TV.

Meanwhile, the winners should not to be taken in by public announcements of various awards in cash and kind. After making a splash in the media, more often than not politicians are known to fail to make good these promises to give plots of land, flats, cash etc, making the winners run from pillar to post. Some of the awards announced by State Governments for the 1983 World Cup winning team are yet to reach its members who have abandoned the idea of pursuing them with the successor regimes.



Spurning an honor

This is a first even for our permissive politicians. In Karnataka politicians of all hues seemed to have joined hands to spurn the Unesco proposal to declare the Western Ghats a world heritage site. This is an honour most nations seek, nay, work behind the scenes to get because it bestows international recognition on ancient monuments, old cities, pristine ecosystems, etc. But in Karnataka there seems to be a conspiracy to reject the Unesco offer because it would then prevent politicians from milking the Western Ghats through unbridled exploitation by friendly real estate developers, miners, etc. Can one rely on BJP president Nitin Gadkari to put drive sense into the heads of whoever in his party is in control of the Government at this moment?

Movers and shakers of Delhi

As usual, the list of undesirable people the CBI updates annually, and expects top bureaucrats and Ministers to keep at an arm’s length, has more people from the capital than any other city in the country. Quite clearly, Delhi is also the national capital of dalals, isn’t it? Of the 23 who figure in the latest list as many as 14 are from Delhi, with Mumbai coming next followed by Kolkata and Chennai.

Lest you think that politicians would shun these people, it should be noted that they are most sought after because without them there would be no one to oil the political machinery. Indeed, the more undesirable you are in the eyes of the CBI, the more sought after you will be in the courts of venal Ministers and bureaucrats.