Olympic losers: Why is India so bad at sport?

[Rajaraja Chola]

Sania Mirza in a recent interview said it very correctly.

She said, I hate to break it to you guys, but we are seriously genetically compromised when it comes to other races when it comes to athletics. She was comparing herself to the 6+ girls on the women's circuit (6'4" in heels is how she put it lol) strutting all over the place.

Now we would all agree that Sania is not small by Indian woman standards.

Li Na, the first Chinese women to win a tennis grandslam will disagree with her.

 

[deckingraj]

Sania Mirza in a recent interview said it very correctly.

She said, I hate to break it to you guys, but we are seriously genetically compromised when it comes to other races when it comes to athletics. She was comparing herself to the 6+ girls on the women's circuit (6'4" in heels is how she put it lol) strutting all over the place.

Now we would all agree that Sania is not small by Indian woman standards.

I would like to correct you on this...There is no problems in the genes....the problem is that a vast majority of our population is poor and kids are malnourished..the best growth is from Age 0-5 and this is where we have the biggest issue....Athletes are natural born who are then polished for excellence...not the other way around...Milkha Singh happened just decades ago not centuries...

 

[adil_minhas]

I would like to correct you on this...There is no problems in the genes....the problem is that a vast majority of our population is poor and kids are malnourished..the best growth is from Age 0-5 and this is where we have the biggest issue....Athletes are natural born who are then polished for excellence...not the other way around...Milkha Singh happened just decades ago not centuries...

Brother being small is not necessarily a "problem in our genes"

It is a problem though in sports and activities where size and strength matters.

Lets not beat around the bush. We are neither the biggest, nor the strongest. Not by a long margin.

Leave alone the fact that we are one of the least athletic people around, with an almost absent sports and physical fitness culture.

Take Australia. Take Germany. Then look at us.

I am not talking about average populace. I am talking about the affluent, where money, food, etc. are non issues.

P.S. Before questioning my sporting credentials, I have been a state cyclist. So I am a bit aware of what it takes to make it in sports.

Cheers.

 

[911]

Being small is not necessary a "problem in our genes"

It is a problem though in sports and activities where size and strength matters.

Lets not beat around the bush. We are neither the biggest, nor the strongest. Not by a long margin.

Leave alone the fact that we are one of the least athletic people around, with an almost absent sports and physical fitness culture.

Take Australia. Take Germany. Then look at us.

I am not talking about average populace. I am talking about the affluent, where money, food, etc. are non issues.

P.S. Before questioning my sporting credentials, I have been a state cyclist. So I am a bit aware of what it takes to make it in sports.

Cheers.

First of all nothing is permanent. If there are differences, they have evolved over the years, and humans keep evolving. The problem here is that people don't give attention to fitness and exercise much, unlike most developed countries.

 

[deckingraj]

Being small is not necessary a "problem in our genes"

It is a problem though in sports and activities where size and strength matters.

Lets not beat around the bush. We are neither the biggest, nor the strongest. Not by a long margin.

Leave alone the fact that we are one of the least athletic people around, with an almost absent sports and physical fitness culture.

Take Australia. Take Germany. Then look at us.

I am not talking about average populace. I am talking about the affluent, where money, food, etc. are non issues.

P.S. Before questioning my sporting credentials, I have been a state cyclist. So I am a bit aware of what it takes to make it in sports.

Cheers.

Who said that?? have you looked at the Indian kids who have been born and brought up in western world?? If you will look at the average height and body weight then you will find they fair better than their Indian counterparts...Had it been genes then there is no way that can happen..no??....Healthy parents are more likely going to produce a healthy baby...Now i am not trying to debunk genes completely here...but saying that our genes are somewhat inferior to western world is not true either.

Now let me repeat what i said...if you have 60-70% of the population not able to afford food, another 10-15% barely managing food how on this earth you can compete with other nations who don't have to deal with poverty issue but also have huge infrastructures to support and promote supports.? Sports is such an integral part of schools in western world and results are in front of us. Their 13-14 years old can give our 18-20 years a run for their money especially the girsl because of obvious reasons.

As said 0-5 is the most important age period in our lives...this is the building block and is directly related to you poverty status. The kind of products that are available here for the infants we can't even imagine back home(i have 1 year old so saying from my personal experience)..Anyways the change in our economic status is already bringing a tiny but a pleasant change...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/healt...rowth-chart/story-cvyMWQpfZMdvDIwjnswrAN.html

Here is a news for chinese kids

http://www.naturalheightgrowth.com/...rage-height-by-6-cm-in-20-years-in-2002-news/

I am sure you are smart enough to join the dots!!

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Speaking a non-Dravidian language does not stop one from being a Dravidian. Here are Indo-Aryan speaking Sinhalese, do they look anything like Pakistanis or North Indians? No
Jayasuriya:

They look no different from Tamils, Sinhalese should stop claiming to be aryan because just looking at them reveals the truth.

Through out the history of India, people have called themselves Aryan that look just like that.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Sure but I was just pointing out that merely speaking an Indo-Aryan language does not make one an Aryan. Many Pakistanis who speak Indo-Aryan language are certainly not Aryan.

If you mean some guy all the way back in C. Asia. Then no one in S. Asia should be called that, because everyone has a mix of the original tribal gene some where, in different frequencies. But, Sri Lankans who are Buddhists since antiquity, called themselves that, it's just what it is. It's not a racial meaning only. C. Asians, Greeks, etc. were regularly called non Aryans.

 

[Proudpakistaniguy]

South Asia is an embarrassment as far as Olympic medals are concerned. Per capita Afghanistan has the highest medals, followed by Pakistan. India falls at last on the list and Bangladesh doesnt even exist on the list because it has never won a medal!

Rank, Country, Number of Medals, Per capita Medals,

128) Afghanistan, 2, 12,242,800

132) Pakistan, 10, 17,930,900

133) Sri Lanka, 1, 20,653,000

139) India, 26, 47,749,690

http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:all-time

(Note: Sri Lanka has actually won two medals in Olympics meaning their per capita medals are 10,326,500, this takes them up to 127th place)

If Pakistan would have spend as much money as India is spending on sports then you would have seen some progress definitely..Pakistan even ignored national sports hockey and is struggling to survive

 

[adil_minhas]

Who said that?? have you looked at the Indian kids who have been born and brought up in western world?? If you will look at the average height and body weight then you will find they fair better than their Indian counterparts...Had it been genes then there is no way that can happen..no??....Healthy parents are more likely going to produce a healthy baby...Now i am not trying to debunk genes completely here...but saying that our genes are somewhat inferior to western world is not true either.

Now let me repeat what i said...if you have 60-70% of the population not able to afford food, another 10-15% barely managing food how on this earth you can compete with other nations who don't have to deal with poverty issue but also have huge infrastructures to support and promote supports.? Sports is such an integral part of schools in western world and results are in front of us. Their 13-14 years old can give our 18-20 years a run for their money especially the girsl because of obvious reasons.

As said 0-5 is the most important age period in our lives...this is the building block and is directly related to you poverty status. The kind of products that are available here for the infants we can't even imagine back home(i have 1 year old so saying from my personal experience)..Anyways the change in our economic status is already bringing a tiny but a pleasant change...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/healt...rowth-chart/story-cvyMWQpfZMdvDIwjnswrAN.html

Here is a news for chinese kids

http://www.naturalheightgrowth.com/...rage-height-by-6-cm-in-20-years-in-2002-news/

I am sure you are smart enough to join the dots!!

Brother, how many kids of Indian origin, first second third generation, living in Western countries? Out total diaspora would easily number more than the population of many nations.

Medal winning nations.

How many of those "big" desi American kids making it in American football? Soccer? Athletics? Any trophies or medals yet?

Being bigger than Indian desi kids is no barometer. I'll stick to my point please. Maybe see yours when I see results.

We have the genes for chess (is it a sport???). For cricket. Sports like archery, shooting.

Not for physical sports. Not athletics, not swimming or cycling. Not contact sports.

We see Indians excelling some time, one in a generation, because they are freaks who have swum against the tide. Made us proud. Does not change the truth of our genes.

Look at the size of our medieval swords compared to those from other cultures. Hint.

 

[AndrewJin]

Li Na, the first Chinese women to win a tennis grandslam will disagree with her.

Li Na is from my hometown.
Tennis is quite different, used to be regarded as some sort of middle-class game.
It requires very systematic training and tours around the world since young which calls for big investment. And you need a big base of fans/players. Both China and Japan have excellent tennis players. But I won't deny genes play some sort of role more or less. However, when you have a big base, you can definitely find excellent players, same thing can be seen in China's athletics during the recent decade.
Chinese sprinter first Asian to break 10-second 100m mark

 

[Omega007]

Sure but I was just pointing out that merely speaking an Indo-Aryan language does not make one an Aryan. Many Pakistanis who speak Indo-Aryan language are certainly not Aryan.

Actually, Aryan in Sanskrit is used to denote a noble man and not a race or ethnicity!!So, by that logic, anyone can be an Aryan.

 

[AndrewJin]

Oh for sure thats where the availability of resources comes in, Which inturns creates a sporting culture, That enhances those talents

Where there is more disposable income in people to spend on recreational activities like sports or make sports profession, Invariably will make better sportspeople.. In the developing world majority of the people struggle to survive than spend money on recreation

China's sport started off way before the economy reached the blanket of "middle income".
Sometimes, it's not really about incomes.

Let me give u an example, there is a cultural spot in Beijing called Heaven Temple which used to be the emperors' prayer temple. There is a huge park around the temple. This park is very famous among foreign visitors who come to this park not just for the temple, but to see local Beijinger doing morning exercises. These people are not rich at all, they are not in some sort of sport clubs or investing big money on sport facilities. They have been doing this since the opening of this park to the public during 1910s after the last emperor abdicated.

We also have a huge park called Dr. Sun Yat Sen park in my city (in the interior of China), one of the biggest parks in downtown. It was opened in 1920s, ever since it has become one of the most popular exercising playgrounds in the city for those who cannot afford those fancy sport facilities. In the morning and after dinner, the park is some sort of congested!

Dr. Sun Yat Sen park

And we have more parks built after 1949, such as Liberation Park which is way bigger than Dr. Sun Park serving the people living in the north, don't mention Moon Lake Park, East Lake Park, etc! And now we have a lot of grand projects to build more parks and sport facilities in the suburbs serving the new city dwellers.

Moon Lake Park

Yangtze River bank
all kinds of faculties available

Tangxun Lake, suburb
Has the most tennis courts

Our life expectancy has already surpassed 80 year old though our income is way behind Coastal China. And Wuhan is a very industrious city with air pollution problems (we have 10 million people in the city, and one of the biggest steel companies in the world). With the improvement of environment (steel is not longer the top industry in the city, but high-tech zones), incomes and medical system, average life expectancy is esteemed to reach 82-83 in 2020s.
@Chinese Bamboo @dy1022

 

[Omega007]

Brother, how many kids of Indian origin, first second third generation, living in Western countries? Out total diaspora would easily number more than the population of many nations.

Medal winning nations.

How many of those "big" desi American kids making it in American football? Soccer? Athletics? Any trophies or medals yet?

Being bigger than Indian desi kids is no barometer. I'll stick to my point please. Maybe see yours when I see results.

We have the genes for chess (is it a sport???). For cricket. Sports like archery, shooting.

Not for physical sports. Not athletics, not swimming or cycling. Not contact sports.

We see Indians excelling some time, one in a generation, because they are freaks who have swum against the tide. Made us proud. Does not change the truth of our genes.

Look at the size of our medieval swords compared to those from other cultures. Hint.

I'm not disputing your rationale here but about the part in bold, it has got more to do with the same age old "padhoge to banoge nabab, aur khelonge toh banoge kharab" bs mentality virtually all of us are marred with than it has got to do with genetics!!We simply do not have the sport culture here and that's a fact!!I mean, sure, genetics does play its part but not to the extent you are making it out to be!! @deckingraj has got some valid points, 1-5 years is indeed the most important age period in our lives, the nutrition we get in this stage determines our overall physique to a large extent and unfortunately, kids in our country do not get the essential nutrients and hence the stunted growth.And it's not just restricted to the respective socio-economic status of the individuals, but in a large extent, it has also to do with our dietary habits!!Yes, Indian diet just sucks balls, diets full of carbs only and very little amount of proteins!!How can you even hope to get big and strong if you aren't even getting the most essential building block of your body in the first place??!!

Then there is also this weird practise of intentionally keeping the children less fed even when the parents can actually afford the food, in fear of they turning obese or getting sick.I mean in Bengal, our parents have a ready-made answer whenever a child says that he's hungry, "eta sudhu tor chokher khide" which would literally translate to something like, 'it's only in your head kid'!!And then they wonder why their children ain't growing.I'd to go through this same thing but luckily for me, the family physician, praise be upon him, intervened and nabbed the problem pretty much at its bud!!But not all are so lucky.

By the way, Indians actually do quite good in sports like wrestling and boxing and kabaddi, but we don't do good in sprinting or swimming or athletics in general, now why is that??Because it's not that we lack in strength that much but what we lack in is endurance, we tend to fizzle out too early!!

 

[hexagonsnow]

China's sport started off way before the economy reaches the blanket of "middle income".
Sometimes, it's not really about incomes.

Let me give u an example, there is a cultural spot in Beijing called Heaven Temple which used to be the emperors' prayer temple. There is a huge park around the temple. This park is very famous among foreign visitors who come to this park not just for the temple, but to see local Beijinger doing morning exercises. These people are not rich at all, they are not in some sort of sport clubs or investing big money on sport facilities. They have been doing this since the opening of this park to the public during 1910s after the last emperor abdicated.

We also have a huge park called Dr. Sun Yat Sen park in my city (in the interior of China), one of the biggest parks in downtown. It was opened in 1920s, ever since it has become one of the most popular exercising playgrounds in the city for those who cannot afford those fancy sport facilities. In the morning and after dinner, the park is some sort of congested!

Dr. Sun Yat Sen park
View attachment 323188
View attachment 323187
View attachment 323184 View attachment 323185

And we have more parks built after 1949, such as Liberation Park which is way bigger than Dr. Sun Park serving the people living in the north, don't mention Moon Lake Park, East Lake Park, etc! And now we have a lot of grand projects to build more parks and sport facilities in the suburbs serving the new city dwellers.

Moon Lake Park

View attachment 323189

Yangtze River bank
all kinds of faculties available
View attachment 323192

Tangxun Lake, suburb
Has the most tennis courts
View attachment 323193


Our life expectancy has already surpassed 80 year old though our income is way behind Coastal China. And Wuhan is a very industrious city with air pollution problems (we have 10 million people in the city, and one of the biggest steel companies in the world). With the improvement of environment (steel is not longer the top industry in the city, but high-tech zones), incomes and medical system, average life expectancy is esteemed to reach 82-83 in 2020s.
@Chinese Bamboo @dy1022
View attachment 323191

Glad to read so many pics about my hometown --Wuhan.The beautiful city beside the Yangzi river.The old people who should have lied bed suffering from pain of the disease pain now like the teenage active in the park.The people from Wuhan love the morning exercise and the evening dance which had become a scenery of my hometown!

 

[Śakra]

Agreed, the West had turned sports into a whole art. Just look at cricket as well. Whilst our fatties are known for being the worst fielders in international cricket, only sheer individual skill and talent ensures that we are able to compete at the top level. If our players took diet control and exercise as seriously as the Australians and South Africans we could easily dominate world cricket.

Could you give up this

for this