Corruption neutralises what little we have in sports

Ajay Pal Nat

THE Rio Olympics are over and India finished at the 67th position with just two medals. It was speculated that India could win 12 medals, unfortunately that did not happen. India participated in just 70 of the 306 scheduled events, which is totally unacceptable from a nation of 1.25 billion. That the second biggest population in the world is represented by just 120 athletes at the apex sporting event speaks volumes of the condition of sports in the country.

We are clearly lacking. There is no concrete model of sports development in the country. Majority of the population does not have access to even basic modalities of sports training. The athletes who shined at the Olympics were not the products of solely the sports system; they were the exceptional talent that made it through the dirty politics of sports federations and survived the red tape. Lack of sports infrastructure for the masses along with the absence of talent hunt policies clearly shows government apathy for sports development. The mega celebrations over just two medals and hasty announcement of sports awards for the Olympians are just face-saving attempts by sports administrators so that the real issues can go unnoticed. But it is time to dig deeper on these issues.

Olympics preparation is a long process, which takes years of planning and execution. Winning medals requires scientific backup in preparing the players, which is lacking. Sania Mirza rightly said don’t expect medals with just two months of attention; it is a strong backhand hit from the elite player for the country and its sports system. India is clearly lacking in sports infrastructure, our sports policy is totally ineffective and, above all, we are not able to develop a sports culture.

Our national game was eclipsed by cricket long ago. Cricket delivers year-around “entertainment” to the country, which is bogged in poverty and malnutrition, and is fighting with poor health and hygiene. Per capita nutrition availability in India is among the lowest in the world. In a way, cricket is serving the interest of the elite, and the rich are getting richer by just promoting cricket. Ironically, cricket is not an Olympic sport, and hardly 15 nations play it seriously.

The overall budget of the Union Government for sports and youth development is less than Rs 1,600 crore, which is way less than the official brand value of IPL. The Sports Authority of India (SAI), which is the main promoter of sports in the country, gets only around Rs 380 crore out of this allocation, which is too meagre an amount to conduct sports in such a vast nation. The annual per capita expenditure in India on sports is a paltry Rs 12. According to one estimate, the UK spends almost Rs 47 crore per medal in Olympic preparations, and they won 67 medals and stood second on the tally. The current model is obviously not helping our cause. The country needs a solid sports development model to produce a large pool of capable athletes.

Although the Indian sports authorities have started various schemes to promote Olympic participation and to improve performance, the effectiveness of these schemes will remain spotty until the deep-rooted corruption is not weeded out of the sports system. The key to success lies in early identification of talent at the grassroots level and then developing it though scientific training. Education and awareness of sports along with the development of basic sports infrastructure at the grassroots level is also required.

A nationwide motivational drive to increase sports participation is a must. At present sports is not the first choice for a career. The large struggling middle class is looking for ‘stable’ professions for their children, and sport is not seen as one. Sport has to be projected as a promising option, with visible career opportunities. 

India can come up in sports if the leadership so decides. It should be clear that to develop a supporting culture we need to improve the social security of the people, improve general health and living condition of the population, and improve their nutrition levels. People cannot compete and excel in sports when they are struggling for survival and trying to earn one square meal a day for the family. Overall national prosperity remains a crucial factor.

Coming back to Rio, Indian participants were evidently lacking in mental toughness. In crunch situations they were not able to deliver their best, be it the shooters or the archers, or even the professional tennis and badminton players, they all surrendered at that last moment under the pressure. That underscores the need for supporting professionals such as sport psychologists, physiotherapists, trainers and personal coaches to prepare and perform better. But the Indian Olympic Association thinks and works on a different plane. It sent over 40 officials from political backgrounds as ‘morale boosters’. They cost the country way more than the professionals would have. Even as these officials were busy taking ‘selfies’, our marathon runner OP Jaisha ‘nearly died’, according to her account, owing to dehydration because nobody bothered to provide her water or energy drinks. That instance was enough to explain the psyche and work ethics of our sports administrators.

We thus need to come together at various levels to restore our national pride. Let us not be frustrated over the failure of the athletes who participated with full zeal against all odds. They were undoubtedly the heroes of the 1.25 billion.

The writer is a sports science research scholar at Punjabi University, Patiala.