The Absence of a Sports Culture in India

First and for all, i would like to congratulate Jaspal Rana for his amazing performance in the 25 metre Pistol shooting event at the Doha Asian Games. This congraulations is also extended to the other people who have won a Gold medal for the country. The reason why they won the Gold medal was out of pure determination, and not because of any other factor. This brings us to a question of developing a Sport Culture in our country. At present, Performances by India on the sporting arena have been far from impressive. The decline began from the period of the 1980s, and it has remained stagnant ever since that period.

This topic was considered during the Indian Cricket team's disaster in South Africa. This bought into question India's disastrous performances in Hockey, Football as well as the Olympics. The follwing paragraph dwells into the facts that Indian Sporting performances have gone two steps back, while the Rest of the world has gone one step ahead with their performances.

The performances of China in the recent past and Australia for a long time are proof that an Active programme of encouraging Sports from a very young age can have the desired impact. Even dedicated commitment from the government of the nation, in terms of providing modern, up-to-date and World Class facilities, can lead to an improvement in Sporting performances. The practice of making Sports part of the regular curriculum can also produce a very active and strong Sporting Culture.

Unfortunately, India falls short in all of the above categories. Even if facilities are up-to-date, as in the case of Cricket, the team is not mentally strong or prepared to face adverse circumstances and conditions. With the absence of all the above, it is no wonder that sportsmen in India do not live up to the potential.

In China, where the above criterions are more and less satisfied, the results are there for everyone to see. In the 2000 Olympics, China managed a haul of 10 or so Gold Medals. In the 2004 Olympics, they gave the United States a close run for the medals race by winning 32 Gold Medals, with the US getting 34. The Australians are so mentally strong that they do not get intimidated by the opponents. The 2006 Football World Cup was an example. Australians have never achieved anything big in this sport. But, they progressed to the second round, beating Japan and drawing with a good team like Croatia. They even gave the eventual World Cup winner Italy a scare, and it was a controversial penalty which ultimately won it for Italy.

Contrast this with India, and they suffered a 7-0 drubbing at the hands of the Koreans in the World Cup Qualifiers. India has also not done well in the Olympics. Their last Gold medal was at the 1980 Moscow Olympics in Hockey, and from then on, they have struggled to win a single medal. Karnam Malleshwari's Bronze in the 2000 Olympics and Col.Rajyavardhan Rathore's Silver Medal in the 2004 edition have been the only significant achievements, with the media covering them as if they alone won a 100 gold medals in total.

It is about time that people in India stop being so ignorant of our declining standards of performance in Sport. The Private sector and the Government must be pressurized actively so that funds can pour into improving the infrastructure of Sports facilities. With the provision of world class, technological and up-to-date facilities, Indian sport culture can begin its journey.

It is also important that the mindset of the general public, Media and the sports administrator change. Let us not scrutinize and go gung ho to Nauseating proportions about Cricket and the English Premier League. Let us enhance the Sports Culture of this country, so that we do not face any more dissappointments at the world stage, as well as shunning Sportsmen who afterall are doing our country proud. Let us provide them with the best we can offer, for Determination in this world is simply not enough to get results.