An individual Grand Slam champion? Unthinkable! India at the FIFA World Cup? A dream difficult to even conjure! Hockey, once the pride of the nation, is languishing. A cricket win at Lord’s causes critics to lose perspective. Independent India has had a few memorable achievements on the sports field but in reality they have hardly stirred revolutions. The truth is that India lacks a culture of sporting excellence.
True, there is Sachin Tendulkar, a Bharat Ratna, but cricket — with due respect to the 1983 and 2011 World Cup triumphs — is only an eight-nation game. Even here, India is a far-from-dominant force. A year after Independence, the cricket team was treated with disdain in Australia at the hands of Don Bradman. No shame in that. Only, India is yet to win a Test series Down Under since that forgettable tour.
Over the years, the disparity between the haves and the have-nots has grown. Olympic stars continue to ungrudgingly train in dark and unhygienic conditions despite the so-called modernisation of training camps. An under-19 State cricket team, on the other hand, enjoys five-star comforts.
Indian sport has not kept up with the times. Abhinav Bindra gave the nation its greatest sporting gift at Beijing in 2008: an individual gold at the Olympics. Sushil Kumar became the first Indian to win an Olympic bronze (2008) and silver (2012) in an individual discipline, but the humble wrestler has not been accorded the “iconic” status that cricketers with lesser achievements enjoy.
The lack of infrastructure, experts bemoan, has been the bane for most Olympic disciplines. The sports budget is a joke. They get government support, but cannot claim to have world-class facilities at home. Yet, talent takes them to foreign countries on scholarships and sponsorships. Only to participate! If infrastructure alone was the key to success, how do we explain the success of athletes from Ethiopia and Kenya?
Over the years, sport in India has become commercialised and glamorised, the emphasis being financial security. But many schools have no playgrounds and children have no access to modern facilities including gymnasiums and swimming pools, many of which remain locked. Even parks in many neighbourhoods have vanished. There are no takers for domestic competitions, even in cricket. Even cricket is played in front of empty stands.
International cricket has been marketed well. And, yes, retired players earn pensions from the Board. But others are caught in a vicious cycle. Sponsors demand achievements while sportsmen seek the means to train. The race continues. You bring a medal and get sponsorship. You sponsor first and then expect medals! In a one-sport nation, hats off to a youngster if he or she pursues non-cricket recognition.
The truth is that India still believes in the concept of participation in some disciplines, aiming to qualify rather than conquer. Indian sport, sadly, is still in the nascent stage when it comes to international recognition. Taking joy in Germany winning the FIFA World Cup does little good for Indian football. It only exposes the stark difference between India and the rest of the world, regardless of the many private leagues mushrooming in the recent past. At the Asian Games and Olympics, India remains a poor force.The archaic methods of training are an eyesore.
A Sania here and a Saina there are specks on the vast international canvas. Ramanathan Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Dhyan Chand, Milkha Singh, Prakash Padukone, Viswanathan Anand, Sunil Gavaskar, Leander Paes, Bindra, P.T. Usha, Anju Bobby George, Sushil Kumar, Vijender Singh, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are some iconic global achievers. Five-time world champion Anand has the stupendous distinction of figuring in the top 10 of the world for 23 years since 1991. But ask a common man and it is most likely that a cricketer will top his list.
Modern techniques, sports psychology and sports medicine are in a nascent stage. The government does what it can to fund various sports programmes but they do not yield the desired results. Sports administration, in the absence of an effective national policy, has been unprofessional. Things, however, promise to improve.
Among India’s best sporting moments was the staging of the 1982 Asian Games. It showed the country’s ability to be a great host. But the 2010 Commonwealth Games proved a shame before the event took off. The corruption that plagued the Games makes India dread the possibility of hosting another mega sports event. The inquest into the CWG scandals continues.
Parents, once apprehensive of pushing their wards into sports, are beginning to change their attitude. Yet many have desisted from shaping a sporting career for their wards because job opportunities have declined rapidly. Support from the corporate world is always subject to the returns. The closure of the Mittal Champions Trust, aimed at sponsoring promising youngsters, the disbanding of football clubs supported by corporate houses, the vanishing tournaments in hockey, volleyball and basketball are not steps in the right direction. Indian sport, irrespective of the good showing at the 2014 CWG, is only playing catch up.
