India in International Alternative Sports
Emerging Sports It was on 11th of September 2015 that 42-year-old Leander Paes won his 9th...
Emerging Sports
It was on 11th of September 2015 that 42-year-old Leander Paes won his 9th Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Title. And he did this in style at an age when most international tennis players join the veterans on the stands after retirement, to watch younger players take to the international court. With this win, Paes is just short by one win from the world record of 10 Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Titles, held by Martina Navratilova of USA. A day earlier, another Indian tennis player, Sania Mirza lifted the Women's Doubles US Open Title. Later in the month, she lifted another international Women's Cup in a doubles' match in Guangzhou, China. In August 2015, India's Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman player to rank World No.1 in badminton.
In the midst of the cricketing frenzy that India had got used to, in the past few decades, it was refreshing to find India in the top international news in sports other than cricket. India has been occasionally witnessing such outstanding achievements by Indian sportspersons at the international stage. However, in a country of an ever-growing population reaching the current 1.25 billion (125 crore) people, the extent to which Indian sportspersons could make a mark in international competitions is dismal. India has the fewest gold medals per capita in international sports. There was a time in the early 20th century when India was in a formidable position in the game of hockey. However, the country could not hold on to this credit, in spite of hockey being the national sport. This brings to attention the issue of the emerging sports in India.
Plight of Aspiring Sportspersons in India
As Mr Atul Singh, Chairman of CII Committee on Sports, aptly put it, "Intrinsically, the importance of sports is in promoting a healthy lifestyle, creating a culture of sportsmanship and team spirit and in the overall development of an individual. To a nation, promoting sports brings in the spirit of the game, national pride, social inclusiveness and of course employment opportunities."
Indian history recognises several world achievers that India has produced, along with Paes, Mirza and Nehwal, in alternative sports. These include Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh (hockey), Prakash Padukone (badminton), Milkha Singh (athletics), Geet Sethi (billiards), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Abhinav Bindra and Gagan Manoj (shooting), Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), Karnam Malleswari (weightlifting), P.T. Usha and Shiney Wilson (athletics) and Mary Kom (boxing), to name a few. However, the humbling knowledge is that these achievers were able to reach these heights with little or no state support all the way. The state sports councils have been constantly accused, not without basis, of red-tapism, bureaucracy and apathy to the plight of aspiring sportspersons in India.
In stark contrast, in a country like China which also boasts of a large population, its state outfits identify talent at an early age and nurture it. This system ensures a greater likelihood of producing first-rate athletes. The result is that China is able to produce a dozen women who strike a badminton shuttle about as well as Saina Nehwal, India's best woman shuttler so far.
India has traditionally performed better in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games than in the Olympics and has managed to rank among the top nations in those games. This may be attributed to the fact that less countries participate in these games than in the Olympics and some of the top Olympic nations, such as the United States, People's Republic of China (not part of the Commonwealth but takes part in the Asian Games), Russia, Germany and France do not participate in these games.
New Trends
In this backdrop, there have been some recent developments in the country's sports environment that look encouraging and provide optimism for Indian sports. After severe criticism about the hype and exaggerated status given to cricket at the cost of other sports, celebrities, corporates and veteran players have been initiating programmes that provide consistent and sustained support in the form of sponsorship as well as infrastructure facilities, to enable aspiring sports achievers to develop into world-class sportspersons. Even though it is too early to witness the outcome of these efforts, it is encouraging to see this trend taking over Sports India.
The Tata Group of companies has a history of nurturing sports, especially in the disciplines of football and archery. It has since teamed up with former badminton champion, Prakash Padukone to sponsor his badminton academy in Bangalore, thus expanding its ambit in the promotion of sports.
Nita Ambani of the Reliance Group, as founder Chairperson of Football Sports Development, is promoting the sport with the support of celebrities and veteran sportspersons. Another interesting development is the association of the English Premier League giants, the Manchester United (MU) and the Youth Football International (YFI) with Apollo Tyres to nurture young football talents in India. Six children are to be selected based on their skills and offered a 1-year scholarship programme for their training. This includes a week-long residential training in the MU academy in the United Kingdom.
Another venture is the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), which has such veterans as Prakash Padukone, Leander Paes and Geet Sethi on its board. OGQ supports aspiring and promising young sportspersons with training and funding.
Corporates are turning towards sports in their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) drive. For example, the International Management Group (IMG) has teamed up with the Reliance group of companies, to develop and groom young talent in football in India. The PRO Kabaddi League (PKL) is a professional league started in 2014 in India, based on the format of the popular Cricket Leagues, to promote the traditional sport among Indians.
New Academies for Sports
Several sportspersons from various disciplines such as tennis, badminton and football have established academies to train upcoming players. Some of these academies are the Britannia Amritraj Academy, the Bhupathi Tennis Academy, the Gopichand Badminton Academy (GBA), the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) and the Baichung Bhutia Football Schools (BBFS). These academies are mostly managed by players who have been successful at the international level. Such academies serve as important avenues for players to share their knowledge and experience with potential young players. These experienced sportsmen also understand the lacunae in the system. As a result, these academies have been able to work around limitations and produce some impressive results, such as Tintu Luka who won a bronze medal at the Asian Games 2010 and is a product of the Usha School of Athletics, tennis players, Leander Paes and Rohit Rajpal who had trained at the Britannia Amritraj Academy, and Saina Nehwal who trains at GBA.
Need of the Hour
The need of the hour is a holistic, system-driven set-up at the state level to create an environment where potential sports talent can be tapped and nurtured to create international achievers. There are several factors that need to be considered for successful implementation of such a system. These include:
- · professional and transparent governance at the sports councils of the country,
- · dedicated scouting for and identifying potential sports talent in the country,
- · proper and quality infrastructure and sports equipment facilities for the sportspersons,
- · leagues and tournaments at the state, national and international levels to provide these talents the opportunity to compete and hone the skills, and
- · consistent performance incentives, and assurances in the form of financial security to enable these sportspersons to concentrate on performance without having to worry about alternative means of livelihood.
India is slowly but surely moving in this direction but vigilant and watchful governance and monitoring is necessary to take it to its logical result of producing world-class sportspersons, not just participating at international competitions but also performing by winning championships and medals for India.
By Susan Koshy, Editor, PreSense
