In spite of being the 2nd most populous country in the world, India is not able to produce quality players and our nation’s performance in Olympics is always poor. Don’t you think that winning medals in Olympics or in any other competition should be a national priority? Winning medals definitely add to the value and improves the image of India at global level.
India has been taking part in Olympics since 1990 but won just 22 medals. On the other hand the US has won 37 medals in just one Olympics and more than 2500 since 1990. What a huge difference! This win of India makes just 1 medal per 383 million Indians. India is at 55th place in the list of winning the medals. Even the countries like Kenya and North Korea perform better than India. China on the other hand is the most populous country in the world and still manages to win medals in Olympics because its population is well-educated, lives a high quality life, and effectively participate in games.
In 2012 Summer Olympics, 83 Indian players participated in the games and won six medals. Since beginning hockey had been the main game of India in Olympics, but with time its glory also started to fade. India won 11 medals in hockey between 1928 and 1980. After this Indian hockey team never won any medal. In 2008 Abhinav Bindra won the first ever individual gold medal at Summer Olympics in an air rifle event.
Though India has one of the finest Cricket and Hockey teams in the world but winning Olympics medals seems such a daunting task for our nation. To improve this we have to work towards the quality of life and develop more interest in sports.
Parents do not encourage their kids to play like they do for studies. Sachin Tendulkar is such a great player not only because Cricket was his passion but everybody around him also encouraged him to play. His coach used to take him to different fields across Mumbai for practice. Encouragement is a fundamental key to success.
It has been noticed that parents and kids are often interested in playing just renowned games but not athletics. Parents do not see bright future in such games. In America, if an amateur gymnast spends time on chasing her dreams to win medal in Olympics and does succeed then also she will be able to live a quality life. But on the other hand if same thing happens in India then forget about a dream life you may have to struggle a lot to live even a middle class life style. You have to struggle all your life to survive. This picture of insecurity does not let the players to flourish and fulfill their dreams.
Poverty is widespread in India. Because of poverty such a massive population cannot produce good sportspersons. For many families time goes into thinking about daily meals and whether they will get that or not.
Poor infrastructure and governance are playing their own role in this. Lack of facilities at grass root level is another problem. If an athlete belongs to a village then there is no way to practice and move forward. Poor transportation and many such hurdles break the enthusiasm of players. Experts believe that lack of social mobility and poor infrastructure are also the reasons for India’s poor performance in Olympics.
Kenya and Ethiopia which are the poorest countries in the world and do not have enough food, produce the best and the strongest athletes. We must learn how do they do this?
Corruption and not willing to do anything in sports are other major reasons for the poor performance in Olympics.
But parents and teachers must identify their child’s inclination towards sports and ability to perform well. Students should be encouraged to take active part in sports along with studies. Sports facilities must be made available in cities as well as villages. There should be more parks and open spaces for children to play. More and more sport competitions should be held at school levels. Government should provide funds to train budding sportspersons. There should not be any discrimination, reservation and biased opinion while selecting the sportsperson for Olympics or other such events. Every sport in India must be encouraged like Cricket so that players can play with full enthusiasm.
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