Just 2 at …………….

“While the celebrations are on for Sindhu and Sakshi, there is hardly any concern for Jaisha’s plight of having fainted after the Marathon due to lack of support staff.  Jaisha didn’t faint; the Indian Olympic Association and the spirit for grooming sportspersons took a deep dive that day.”

Indians have been celebrating the successes of P.V. Sindhu in badminton, Sakshi Malik in wrestling and Dipa Karmakar (she missed a bronze by a whisker). The players deserve their part of accolade but to celebrate as a nation without realizing the fact that this has been one of the most dismal performances in Olympics over the years. India had won six medals at the 2012 London Olympics and three in 2008 at the Beijing Games.

Those into applying rationale in sports have been asking the same question. The one they have asked each time the nation has participated in an international competitive sports event, be it Olympics, Asian Games or Commonwealth games- Why India, a nation of 1.2 billion people, second only to China in population, could win only two medals? With 83 athletes India won six medals in London while 117 won two in Rio. In addition India had to cut a sorry figure, its reigning national sports minister was there to liven up things.  Vijay Goel and his “aggressive and rude” staff did it so well that the organizers had to warn them of possible expulsion from the arena. None of the other 206 participating countries won this distinction. More than a competitive event for players it turned out to be an outing for the ministers and their staff. An attempt has been made to set aside no other controversy where by the Sports minister Vijay Goelconstituted a two-member committee to probe marathon runner OP Jaisha’s allegation that no Indian athletics officials were present to offer her support during her event in Rio.  “Why should I lie? There was no water in Rio,” Jaisha told media in India, rejecting an AFI statement that Indian runners had refused the offer to have water served at the counters that Indian officials could have manned. While the celebrations are on for Sindhu and Sakshi, there is hardly any concern for Jaisha’s plight of having fainted after the Marathon due to lack of support staff.  Jaisha didn’t faint; the Indian Olympic Association and the spirit for grooming sportspersons took a deep dive that day.

Indian sportspersons are rarely up to the mark, most of them having gone through qualification rounds. When compared to their better-prepared opponents who have had the advantages of state-of-the-art training facilities and dedicated coaches the Indian sportspersons looked at sea. As the Indian contingent was heading home, the reasons discussed for decades started coming up for postmortem- poor infrastructure, poor diet, a non sustainable sports policy, lack of killer instinct.

The lack of sustainable sports policy is well reflected by the players themselves. Every four years, Indians bask in the glory of a new sportsperson. Indian medalists struggle to remain at the top while those from other countries deliver in multiple Olympic Games. India’s top performers at the London Olympics in 2012 — Vijay Kumar and Sushil Kumar who won silver medals and SainaNehwal, GaganNarang, YogeshwarDutt and Mary Kom who bought back bronze medals failed to gather any medal for India in Rio. Vijay failed to even make the cut, Sushil Kumar, who won more than one medal at London, has been busy fighting the Wrestling Federation of India as well as fellow wrestler Narsingh Yadav who himself has been caught up in a doping scandal. SainaNehwal is recovering from a knee injury and failed to deliver at Rio, Mary Kom this time didn’t even qualify.  YogeshwarDuttlost his first bout and brought medal hopes to dust. Why is it so, that people who bring laurels for India fail to deliver in the next? Those who delivered medal-winning performances cannot then be nurtured to deliver again.

There is a little emphasis on nurturing for the future. Infrastructure is moderate that is not commensurate with the needs of the time. The stadiums that were erected for Commonwealth games have been left to be reduced to rubble, as it suits the political leaders desire to build and rebuild than to maintain. Maintaining doesn’t offer much chance to amass money! The condition of training areas is not better, with equipment outdated, coaches not aware of the newer technologies in use.

The system that awards the sportspersons on winning a medal has acted as a damper. The athletes are awarded on winning medals, are given government jobs and have a little to look forward to. But for few like AbhinavBindra who cherish the pride of winning a medal for the nation. There is ample talent in India, however there are no means to spot them, nurture them, align them so that they could be potential players for the nation. Coaches and Coaching methods are confined to only produce players that lack killing instincts.

The manner of awarding the sportsperson and not investing in infrastructure is the bigger roadblock. With each passing year, the governments remain blindfolded to the real issue that doesn’t allow Indians to become better sportspersons. The authorities too have displayed a lack of understanding in forming a policy that is sustainable. The government needs to get serious about investing in infrastructure, tapping youngsters, make best of the coaches available or else by 2020 India may not even get the two that it got at Rio.