The Snake boat, with over 400 years of history, dating back to the Kings of Alappuzha in Kerala, and the Dragon boat, with over 2000 years of history, associated with the iconic river of Chang Jiang (better known as Yangtze in China), symbolise the strong tradition of indigenous sports in the two countries. But when we compare the sporting performance of India and China over the last five or six decades, it reminds us of the famous Tortoise and Hare fable. India hosted the first Asiad way back in 1951, nearly four decades before China did it in 1990, but failed to reap the early bird advantage.
China, on the other hand, made its first appearance at the second Asiad in 1954 and stood sixth in the medal tally, just below India. However, unlike India, China fully recognised the power of sports and harnessed it completely. No wonder, the Tortoise slowly and steadily overtook the Hare. China came third in Tehran in the 1974 Asiad, second in Bangkok in the 1978 Asiad, and first in Delhi in 1982 Asiad; a position that it has retained for the past 28 years and is expected to repeat at Guangzhou later this year.
In Olympics, after drawing a blank in Helsinki in 1952, China withdrew from the Games for over three decades, before returning in 1984 and securing the fourth position at the Los Angeles Olympics. Finally, in 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, China topped the medal tally. Perseverance, patience and purposefulness had finally paid off, and the Tortoise finally won the Olympic race!
China's continuous surge in sporting performance has been largely attributed to its single-minded mission to reach the top. It was all along focussed on the promotion of community and competitive sports to the highest standards. A Physical Health Law was passed in 1995 and formed the basis of a nationwide physical fitness programme. With over 600,000 stadiums and 200,000 training centres, today more than 60 per cent of China's population aged between seven and 70, and 95 per cent of its student population meet the national fitness standards. No wonder China has now emerged as a major sporting nation in the world.
In stark contrast, India is still hugely deficient in sporting performance. Barring around 50 million, the remaining population does not even have access to basic sporting facilities. More than half of the 1.2 million schools in the country have no access to playing fields. There aren't enough sports and physical education instructors. And the integration of sports and physical education with school curriculum is still a far cry. Our pathetic sports performance says it all!
China ventured into hosting mega-sporting events only after establishing itself as a major sporting power. But once it took that responsibility, it never looked back. It has excelled in both staging the Games and topping the medal tally. China is credited with having staged the most spectacular Olympics till date, which has even left London, the only city to host Olympics thrice in the past, extremely nervous.
Our sports administrators, on the contrary, appear to be obsessed with staging mega-sporting events notwithstanding our indifferent sporting performance. The argument that mega sports events help create a lasting sporting legacy, besides promoting excellence, remains still largely unsubstantiated, going by our own past experience. Empirical evidence also shows that most countries that have hosted mega-sporting events have had a long track record of strong sporting performance. So, no matter how swanky Delhi may look, or how spectacular the opening ceremony of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games may be, our national prestige will essentially lie in our sporting performance and not merely on our staging performance. Let's not mistake the Games for mere showbiz because fierce battles will be fought on the playfield to establish supremacy. Good luck, India!
China's focus on select sports is another reason for their success. Unlike our ‘Jack of all trades' approach, China's ‘focus sports' like gymnastics, weightlifting, table tennis, shooting, badminton, judo, swimming, athletics and the traditional Chinese sports are also those having the maximum events and hence, offering maximum medal prospects. The problem staring us in the face is our abysmally low level of performance in core sports such as athletics, gymnastics and swimming. Hence, if at all we are to do well in international sports, we must start from scratch. Let's do what China did in 1995 – make sports for all, compulsory!
Another major advantage that China has over India is the inclusion of many of its traditional sports such as fencing, wushu and karate in major competitions, which account for nearly 50 events. India, on the other hand, has only managed the inclusion of kabaddi into Asiad. Other traditional sports such as kushti (Indian- style wrestling), kho kho, mallakhamb, kalarippayattu and thang ta are still nowhere in the horizon of becoming international sports.
This brings us back to the Snake boat and the Dragon boat story. While both, along with boats from other parts of the world, are poised to make an appearance at the 2012 London Olympics inaugural ceremony, as a sport, Snake boat racing is yet to venture out beyond the Indian shores, whereas the Dragon boat racing has firmly established itself as a popular international sport, having already gained entry into the Asian Games and knocking at the doors of the Olympic Games.
Come on, India! Let's wake up as a nation, prepare ourselves as a nation, and compete as a nation to catch up in the race with the Dragon boat!
(The writer is a civil servant; views are personal and the views expressed here are his own. His email is srinivasinjeti26@gmail.com )
