What is wrong with Indian sports & how to improve it

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 3:05 pm

PKB, Kumar and others have suggested that instead of trying to develop world class athletes in every sports, India must identify selected sports, and then come up a proper plan to identify, train and make the athletes top class.

Sports that have been mentioned by the forum members where India can excel include Gymnastics, Diving, Fencing,Volleyball, shooting, archery, badminton, tabletennis, hockey, etc. We can discuss later the process by which India can identify the talented players and develop them into world champions.

Why do you think Indian can excel in the above mentioned sports? If we look at the history of sports, some Indians have excelled in hockey, badminton, junior volleyball, and shooting. It does not mean that Indians cannot excel in the sports that have been mentioned by all of you. I would like to read your opinions why Indians will do well in gymnastics, diving, fencing, table tennis, etc.

Come on guys and gals, only five of you have expressed your opinion in this thread! I am sure each one of you have your opinion on this subject. I am hoping that the Indian sports journalists and sports administrators who occasionally visit this forum may take your suggestions and perhaps may implement the needed changes.

(Perhaps I am day dreaming that the forum members can bring about positive changes in Indian sports but I am willing to try my best rather than stay silent.)

Sunil Yajaman · Post by **Sunil Yajaman** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 7:09 pm

IMO, I think the only way to improve sports is to have people with a vision & passion for sports running sports in India. The people who are running sports today are mainly looking for short term gains just to take pride if something is achieved. Sports in this country will just continue to be the way it is unless the Government comes up with a 15 year plan. What we need is not the Government speninding money on just a handful of sportspersons & expecting them to win a medal at the Olympics. What is more important is to build infrastructure at every town of India. Another major factor is bringing in more professionalism into sports. This is the duty of every Federation. If someone is'nt able to deliver, he should go. We should not have people just using the sport to wield power & make it their livelyhood. Each sport should be run like a business & we are fortunate to have a sport in Cricket which has show the way a sport can be run. Accountability should be a factor. What is theproblem in Govt. making Sports a part of the school curriculam? I would keenly wait for a day when Indian sports is being run by people who can understand the feelings of sportspersons instead of IAS/IPS/Army people! I guess the overall Indian Sports scene needs an Attitudinal Overhaul. Otherwise, Bhushan might start this same topic after 2028 Olympics again!

Sunil Yajaman

sunnyd · Post by **sunnyd** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:29 pm

India definitely needs a collegiate sports system, something along the lines of the NCAA in the US.

India does have capability in some team sports to improve further. Our volleyball team has done well in the past decade at the Rashid Tournament in UAE. However, I've never heard of them participating in any other tournament. They might have a chance of becoming an Asian power atleast with more exposure and better coaching.

Basketball is also very popular in many colleges and schools in India. However, this is also one of the most unorganized team sports in India. Something should be done about this too.

Another thing that caught my attention is lack of sport science programs in Indian colleges/universities. Many universities here have degrees in physiotherapy, sports medicine, sports management etc.

And on the funding issue, does anyone have any ideas on how funds can be raised? Raising taxes at the current time could be a double edges sword, since I don't trust the current generation of politicians with public money.

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:29 pm

I guess the overall Indian Sports scene needs an Attitudinal Overhaul. Otherwise, Bhushan might start this same topic after 2028 Olympics again!

Let me see how old I will be then

.

Nice to hear from you, Sunil.

I agree with you completely. I am still waiting for some commission to be formed by the government to find what went wrong with Indian sports at the 2004 Olympics and then the recommendations will never be implemented. We have been doing it for the past many years.

Sunil Yajaman · Post by **Sunil Yajaman** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:27 am

Hello Bhushan, yes maybe our offsprings also will continue with this discussion! What is more important for India in the 2012 Olympics is to have atleast 3 Anju Bobbys in the finals of Women's Long Jump. What I mean is to create a depth. Once we have that it would become easy for each one of them to push each other in gunning for a medal in each of the disciplines. To create a depth, we need to have a good Talent Hunt program & a good follow up program. India needs to creat a World class training centers in each of the states & have a smaller center in each of the districts. The Govt. investement should go into this. Schools should compulsarily have Sports as one of the subject. This was atleast we could make many of the children, sports enthusiasts & sports minded. Medals will come later but what we need to have is numbers. Numbers will get us the medals, let tht take another 15 years, no problem. The medals will follow. I would call for the Ministry of sports not to wast money on commissions or committees. It can just be one person who can bring about the change. Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji, Dhirubhai Ambani or JRD Tata were individuals who brough about a change in their respective fields. Sports should follow that.

Anyway, did you figure out how old wold you be in 2028?

Sunil

kabaddi · Post by **kabaddi** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:16 pm

ahh i was going to post the Navhind times article but thought i'd read and see if anyone beat me to it
it's sad but it's funny to
i read somewhere, not sure if it was from a discussion thread or a newspaper article, but it said something about the sports minister or chairman being a former bollywood star and didn't care much about sports in India
how much of that is true? if it is true then that's probably a big reason why we're having so little success
on a positive note i've been reading (skimming through) a lot of newspaper articles that mention different states and TOWNS who have started to further develop or start new school sports programs and stuff about annual tournaments that include a variety of sports
they mentioned that these programs would encourage both boys and girls to be more involved in sports

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 10:13 pm

i read somewhere, not sure if it was from a discussion thread or a newspaper article, but it said something about the sports minister or chairman being a former bollywood star and didn't care much about sports in India

The present Sports Minister in India is Mr Sunil Dutt, a Bollywood actor. I am not sure of the statement "....didn't care much about sports in India", because he did meet with the hockey team, knew who Dhanraj was and remarked how both had received some awards together, met with other Indian sportsmen and women, etc. He seemed to have done more than others have done in the past. How much good he will do for Indian sports is still to be seen, and I will pass judgement after he has been in his job for a year or so.

Mr Sunil Dutt is an older person and some people questioned the wisdom of not appointing a younger person for this job. Mr Dutt still looks fairly fit for an older person living in India, and he has overcome fractures of his bones, back surgery, and minor stroke. So far he has shown enthusiasm for the job. I saw his interview on TV after he returned to India from Athens and his reply to the question about India's medal tally was very measured. Major Rathore had won a silver medal then and everyone in India was going "nuts", and he mentioned about the possibility of the Indian Express and perhaps Anju getting medals. The way he spoke indicated that he had a realistic view of the expected performance of the Indian athletes at the Olympics and he did not try to raise the expectations too high. Perhaps the failure of the previous Indian teams kept him from overstating the expected performance of the Athens bound Indian team.

Kumar · Post by **Kumar** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 5:45 am

Bhushan, I can understand the indifference of the forum members for the simple reason that this topic is getting stale..
I pointed to sports like Fencying, Gymnastics, Diving as sports where the power is not going to play a great deal of role (may be some events in Gymnastics require power) and Indians can probably compete at the same level in such sports. These are the sports that are not tainted by drugs (a whole lot) becoz drugs are probably not going to give an added advantage.

But I am curious do we have a fencing association?

kabaddi · Post by **kabaddi** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 3:28 pm

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040901/a ... 700463.asp
The Telegraph - Calcutta
Athens flavour in Games build-up
- Dream complex spread over 220 acres to cost Rs 200 crore
ARUN KUMAR THAKUR
Ranchi, Aug. 31: If plans are implemented, Jharkhand will one day have sports facilities that one can find in Athens.

The stage has been set to implement the ambitious mega sports complex at Hotwar for the 2007 national games.

The complex will have facilities including swimming pools gymnasiums, badminton courts, tennis courts, shopping malls, saunas and Jacuzzis.

It is expected that after the Games, it will be the new hot spot to get away far from the daily grind in the state capital.

“Our consultant should be able to suggest versatility of the facilities. We want our consultant to suggest ways to utilise the facilities created for the national games to improve our revenue,” state sports director Amitabh Choudhary said. He said, “The public will be encouraged to utilise these facilities. For example, membership for using swimming pools, badminton and tennis courts, gyms, saunas, sports library, and other facilities would be encouraged. Modalities are being worked out.”

The mega sports complex is estimated to cost around Rs 200 crore and spread over 220 acres. The main stadium will have an eight-lane synthetic track and four-lane warm-up tracks and seat 35,000 spectators.

Its media centre will have 100 networked computers capacity to seat 500 media persons.

In addition, there will be an air-conditioned conference hall to seat 200 and a VIP lounge for 100 people. It will also have a 1,000-bed dormitory and 15 rooms for 15 state associations, including Jharkhand.

The indoor stadium will have five to 10 networked computers and a room for the media. There will be six terraflex or wooden courts for badminton. The stadium would have a seating capacity of 2,000.

The table tennis segment will have a wooden floor with space for six boards. For basketball, there will be terraflex or wooden floor and seating capacity for 4,000 spectators. For handball and volleyball, too, there would be a wooden or terraflex floor and capacity to seat 4,000 spectators.

Up to 2,000 spectators would be able to watch the gymnastics, judo, wrestling, boxing, fencing, taekwando and weightlifting, events at a time. There will also be a 50-m swimming pool. Nearly 4,000 spectators would be able to watch aquatic events including swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming.

The VIP enclosure will have 200 seats. Around 2,000 people and 200 VIPs will be able to watch the cycling events on the 330-m cycle track and 4,000 people, 100 VIPs and 50 mediapersons would be able to watch tennis at six synthetic courts. There will also be facilities for archery, equestrian, shooting (including indoor shooting for 10 metre event), kho-kho and kabaddi.

gbelday · Post by **gbelday** » Mon Nov 01, 2004 7:34 pm

Kalmadi re-elected IOA president

http://us.rediff.com/sports/2004/nov/01ioa.htm

Why on earth does he keep getting elected? They cant produce results!
I doubt if Kalmadi is any good...I keep reading about how dynamic he is but where are the results??

gvhvhg · Post by **gvhvhg** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 1:17 am

Gautam

He got us the Commenwealth games!!!

Post by **jayakris** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 1:22 am

I think Kalmadi is pretty good and probably better than many other politicians doing these things. He does sound like a sports fan, at least. As for results, well, what can an IOA chief really do to improve Indian sports? .. That needs to be done by people with proper passion in the federations. PASSION is in serious short supply in Indian federations and EGO is in abundant supply. That is our problem.

Jay

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:10 am

The discussion about the emergence of India as a great sports nation reminds me of a story about the light bulb.

"How many psychiatrist does it take to change the light bulb?

First the light bulb must agree to get changed."

The Government of India, the officers of the sports federations, the athletes, the coaches, the general public, etc. must agree to change the way sports is conducted in India before India can emerge as a great sports nation.

Orang · Post by **Orang** » Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:45 pm

Here is the fencing video. I think we could easily get a couple of the 36 medals in this sport in 2028. Devi already did well without us having any kind of fencing academy or history in the sport whatsoever.

A video from YouTube usually appears here. Please contact an administrator.

Post by **jayakris** » Fri Aug 20, 2021 8:36 pm

Orang wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:45 pm Here is the fencing video. I think we could easily get a couple of the 36 medals in this sport in 2028. Devi already did well without us having any kind of fencing academy or history in the sport whatsoever.

Agree. But Chennai has had some kind of an academy. Here is an article that was in The Hindu this week - Fencing in Madras: An ’80s movement that remains strong, thanks to Bhavani Devi’s Olympic debut

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