Wednesday 22 / January / 2025
Muscat: Even with the massive potential within the country, India struggles to make its mark on the medals tally at the Olympics every four years.
Most blame the lack of sporting culture in the country, and call for reforms to strike a balance between academics and sports, while others lament the lack of facilities present in the country for sports.
Syed Naqvi, Indian Hockey legend: The Olympic medals for India in Rio were a glorious achievement and a dream come true for athletes. Even though a lot has been done in recent years, India still suffers from issues related to an imbalance between academics and sports. The older generation mainly concentrates on academics, rather than maintaining an equilibrium between the two. As a former athlete, I have seen several potential talents who gave up sports for academics under the pressure of their families. For India to perform better, sports education must begin at an early age. The sports facilities of the country must improve drastically and awareness about the importance of sports needs to increase, too.
Imtiaz Baqi, Director, Abstract Oman: It is an understatement to say that it is terribly disappointing thus far – we only have a silver and a bronze medal to show for the largest contingent ever sent by India to an Olympics. However, I wholeheartedly congratulate Sakshi and Sindhu for creating history, against all odds.
The kind of support and corporate backing that cricket enjoys in India is sadly lacking for all other sports. The government does not appear to be providing necessary support, nor training facilities, and the present one is in a poor condition. The government claims to have sanctioned Rs460 million for the Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme. Yet, only Rs60 million seems to have been spent! Little wonder that India is amongst the bottom of the chart, with two medals, whereas several small countries occupy higher positions.
There is a huge focus on academics, at the expense of sports and even creativity.
Jatinder Singh, Oman Cricket team player: It’s an amazing feeling to see India doing so well at the Olympics, with literally no preparation facilities. Credit to the guys, who have gone there and competed. The Sports Ministry needs to look into encouraging sports seriously and develop facilities accordingly. Athletes should be awarded long term contracts and looked after nicely, with highly qualified coaches and nutritionists. It is obvious that parents want their children to study well, get high grades and settle into life, because there is hardly any money in sports and no future security. So if sports becomes more remunerative, many parents would love their kids to take up a sport.
Madhu Jesrani, Secretary, Oman Cricket and General Manager, Khimji Watches: India is very backward when it comes to sports, and there is a huge task to develop it, as India is a long way from world class levels. They lack international levels of sporting, as well as coaching facilities, some of which are in a pathetic state. Encouragement in sports is missing in the country, which is the main reason for it. Even with the large amount of talent, several policies in India have to change,which include encouraging youth to take up sports.
Dr. Sanjay Dalal, Director, Talent Hunters Oman: As an Indian, I feel very proud to learn about India’s achievements in the Olympics. All Indians feel the same. Until recently, the curriculum in schools and colleges in India were not designed for overall development of a child. They focused only on academics. However, now India is making strides in the field of sports. Until now, India had only one popular sport taken up professionally, that being cricket, but recently many other sports have been taken up by the younger generations. Infrastructure, facilities, encouragement, funding-- everything is flowing in to encourage young ones to pick up different sports. All these are necessary to reach the highest levels of the Olympics. This was the reason for India’s under performance. With more participation, exposure and experience, there is only one upwards.
