How can
India emerge as a sporting superpower?
Surya Shekhar Das
Rohit Sharma essayed a pull shot with oriental or native artistry
at the cricket stadium in Dharamshala and the ball sailed towards the Himalayas.
Virat Kohli sculptured a cover drive at the ethereal Eden Gardens that
should be put at the Louvre museum. He played a highly calibrated innings with the
optimum application of nifty or skillful engineering
on a treacherous track in Johannesburg.
MS Dhoni, having arguably the fastest hands of the East, effected
a brilliant stumping with consummate ease in Chennai.
These Indians cricketers are the icons amidst us.
Team India has won three world cups. Two fifty-over world
cups and a T20 world cup. Virat Kohli's team is the numero uno in Test cricket.
But when the Indian athletes go to the Olympics, they dish
out a sorry tale year after year.A few valid questions bug me. Our hockey team, once a part of the sporting folklore, did not win a single Olympic
medal since 1984. We still do not know when will our football team at least participate
in the Olympics or in a World Cup. Why do we fail on a regular basis at the
Olympics? Even in the last Olympics, the financially weakened Ethiopia dribbled past India comfortably on the medal table.
And in the 2012 Olympics, the poor Uganda scooted past our country. In both
cases, India ranked outside of the top fifty nations. Why do the Indian athletes
fail to broaden the horizons of performances ? Is it fair for India
to establish itself on the sporting map just as a cricket-centric country?
An then comes a very pertinent question . When will we
have a comprehensive sports policy? Unless
we have a proper detailed sports policy, we stand nowhere. A policy which
should be supplemented by clear vision, government as well as private (PPP) investment
and proper deploying of personnel. In India, politicians often sit pretty well on
the various sports organisations. The politicians
should make way for the former competent players, sports writers,and surely, the management people. The former
players bring a wealth of experience, they have the excellent understanding of
the game concerned, invariably they possess the priceless ground knowledge. The sports writers fetch creative
yet actionable insights into the game. Surely, these people nurture the finest minds
in them. They can add immense value, new perspectives to the various discipline
of sports. And we need the management people. The triumvirate of former players,
sports writers and management people can pull the Indian sports a long way
forward. The management people/managers can blend technology with innovation.
They can create a knowledge pool where natural intelligence will embrace the
artificial intelligence seamlessly. These suave professionals would be
transparent, accountable and working on the sustainable as well as implemetable
models. They do not settle for anything less than excellence.Importantly , they
have the courage to challenge the status quo. Invariably, they are adaptive to
change. They thrive on quality innovation, ambition, honesty as well as
integrity. With the help as well as hunch provided by the former players and sports
writers, these managers will craft a glorious future for our athletes. When
Australia failed to win even a single gold medal in the 1976 Montreal Olympics,the
Australian government took some drastic decisions which brought a positive,
seismic change into their sports. As a result, Australian Athletes were paid handsomely,
the government created such a sporting ecosystem
where budding talents could bloom properly, the precise scientific process strengthened the players, medical
teams and physiotherapists ensured athletes reached at the peak of physical fitness. Even, mental aspects of
sportpersons were taken into due consideration.When everything fall into place,
Australia put themselves on the global sports map. Their ascendancy has taken a
colossal leap in the Olympics. If the Kangaroos experienced such metamorphosis
in their sports, why not the Indians?
When the indefatigable Leander Paes annexed the bronze medal
in tennis (singles) in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics,I thought Indian tennis would experience
the hitherto unseen glorious dawn. Leander is cut from the entirely different cloth.
Such is his unsinkable self-belief and enormous intensity, he has shined brilliantly.
Truly, Leander's accomplishments have symbolised the individual brilliance. Mahesh
Bhupati, Somdev DevVarman, Sania Mirza...all dazzled briefly. But none piloted himself/herself on the global canvas of tennis.
India has not produced even a single grand slam winner in singles. When Karnam Malleswari
won the bronze medal in the weightlifting category in the 2000 Sydney Olympics,
it was indeed a historic achievement. Karnam
Malleswari was the first Indian female athlete to win a Olympic medal. But has
any woman after Malleswari achieved something special in the Olympics in weightlifting? The answer is painfully
No. And there was the magnificent Mary
Kom who fought hard with such an epical courage that even a brilliant wordsmith
might fail to describe. Mary Kom's unique achievement in the 2012 London Olympics
should be a trailblazer in women boxing, but unfortunately it did not not turn
into that way. Has the ground-breaking performance of Dipa Karmakar at the Rio
Olympics given a new lease of life to gymnastics?
Has the wrestler Sakshi Malik's stunning exploits in the last Olympics turned a
new chapter in women wrestling? The answer is tiresomely inconclusive. But then,
think of badminton. As a shutller,P. Gopichand was a once-in-a-generation
player . He won the All England Open Badminton Championships. Now, as a coach he
has created a virtually Gurukul system where shutlers like P V Sindhu,Saina Nehwal blossomed into an Olympic medalist. So there
is no dearth of talents in Indian sports. As I have already pointed out, if the
working of former players, writers and managers can be allowed in tandems, Indian
athletes will scale dizzy heights in Olympics or other global competitions . Surely,
investment is a massive factor. If Indian
cricket team is enjoying the sumptuous brand of sponsorship ( the amount is astronomically
high at INR 1079 crore bequeathed by the OPPO Mobiles India for a five-year
deal started on 1st April 2017 ), why should other Indian athletes not be financially bolstered ? I have already mentioned about Rohit
Sharma, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni. I have nothing against Indian cricketers. I believe,
along with Kohli,Rohit and Dhoni,... Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik, PV Sindhu...all
are tough, proud competitors who have given immeasurable joy to us. And they
can win more global laurels for our motherland. They can be world beaters. They
should be given the proper ambience to flourish. I don't want to see India as a single-dimensional, cricket-mad country.To me,
from the investment perspective, the great Indian sports conglomerate is like a magnificent diversified equity fund which will
go from strength to strength over a period of time provided everything fall
into place. And if that happens, I have no doubt in my mind that India will emerge
as a comprehensive superpower sporting nation which will excel from the cricket
fields to the fields of Olympics, the greatest show on earth.
