The nation was so deprived, dejected with the performances in the Rio Games that the last two medals gave us so much euphoria and the entire nation looked upon those two medal winners as the saviours of Indian sports. We cannot take away the merit of those Indian athletes and their performances. But I think we are a nation that goes overboard with the hype, be it cricket or tennis or any sport. Forget sports, be it any issue, we go overboard and when it doesn’t come to the expectation of what it has been projected to, then we are the first ones to put them down so badly.
Also Read: Dipa practised in primitive conditions in Tripura
Should we accept it the way it is or try and change things? I think there are two ways to look at it. Do such accolades come only when you win the medal? What about aspirations of lakhs of children who are trying to become like P.V. Sindhu or Sakshi Malik or Dipa Karmakar? Don’t they have dreams and don’t we have the sensitivity to ensure that their dreams are met. Everything cannot be about marketing. It is ok for people who are endorsing those products, who have got enough and more. But are we really forgetting where these athletes come from or are we trying to make them forget their roots, is the question.
Most of us as sportspersons have struggled enormously over the years, financially, economically and even emotionally. It is terrible to be surviving and competing for 15 years with absolutely no kind of financial support or the visibility. We didn’t know anything about sponsorship. While it is a great trend that people are opening up to sport and looking at sport as an industry, we must ask ourselves, do we create champions out of choice or do we create champions out of chance? I think that is the fundamental question.
Also Read: The revolution lies elsewhere
If you want to make that choice, from here on it is the government, the stakeholders in sports, whether it is officials, federations, coaches or institutions, must act together. We need to start at the bottom rung, which is the school system. Many thousands of young talented athletes give up halfway, frustrated. The question is, is there a clear pathway in India? Can you and I define it? Can P.T. Usha or Abhinav Bindra define it? None of us knows. And the system is not just about clear pathways. Over-age and drug abuse. They are in every sport, including in the junior level. Are we addressing these issues?
I think it is time. The Rio Games was a setback but it has also given a chance for people at the helm of affairs to transform sport, to really look at how we can make sport in India develop for the next couple of decades and not just the next Olympics. We are a youthful nation, but what are we going to provide our youth? The smallest countries have become sporting nations. My report to the ministry clearly states the appalling conditions of training centres in most of the places. Most of the athletes who come to these centres are from poor, average backgrounds. The question is will you and I send our kids by looking at the conditions there? Do authorities have the right to treat poor in such shabby manner?
Sport is a great visibility. It is something, in which if you can excel, it will elevate you out of that poverty because the struggles are enormous back home. Mobilising funds is not a difficult task for the government. But at the same time we need to get away from ‘only the government’ hold. Governments have immediate needs of the citizens. While the governments should monitor like it is happening in other countries, sports must be run professionally. It doesn’t mean only sportspersons, but professionals with the help of sportspersons, the ministry and the corporates. It has to be a partnership. We cannot solely depend on the government.
Look at the facilities created for the Commonwealth Games, the Nehru Stadium track is ripped off. You have to have a revenue generating model which allows you to maintain facilities. We have a Come and Play scheme, which was launched with much fanfare or the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan. On paper they tell you about the number of centres that have been opened but how many champions have come up from there. Does anybody have a data?
Funds are available but monitoring them or tracking of athletes is missing. That is the reason why we need a professional system running it from bottom to top and top to bottom. Forget small countries that are doing well in sports, look at Britain and China. Britain runs its entire sports programme through its lottery system, not managed by the government. See the investment they brought in for the 2012 Games and the results at the games and in 2016 as well. Look at Australia, they didn’t perform well and the government told the entire federation to back off.
If there is no accountability, there is no result. It is not just the accountability of athletes, the coaches or federation, it is about the accountability of money spent and invested on each of the athletes. India is too large a country, it cannot be managed just at one centre. We need to divide our country into zones, maybe six zones and ensure that we have the right people at the top and all zones co-ordinating. It has to have people from the HRD ministry, the Universities, the UGC and all because we are losing out athletes even before they reach the universities.
This is a time for serious thought and I hope our prime minister, who is so proactive and has really changed the way we look at many things in our country, will really take serious note of the way forward for Indian sports. I don’t remember any Olympic team from even my days that has been so warmly welcomed by a prime minister. Somebody needs to bell the cat and make decisions that will transform the way we look at sports in our country.
(The writer is a former Indian athlete, who is also a social worker, educationist and an actress. Recipient of the Arjuna award)
