India - Where favourites change by the hour

India has long been dubbed as a ‘sleeping giant’ in many sports. Heads of many international sports bodies and federations readily accept the fact that India is developing in terms of sports. But all they see is developing fan base of certain sports or more specifically, players.

Apart from cricket, where every person,rich or poor, knows squad of India’s national team, most Indians don’t know names of even 5 players from Indian team of different sports. Most Indians still think Bhutia is active in international football, Dhanraj Pillai is captain of Indian hockey team and the fact that Sania Mirza is among the best singles players in the WTA circuit now. It was actually funny to see huge number of Vikas Gowda fans emerge in my college during his event, and every Indian believing that Abhinav Bindra had a better chance in winning a medal than Gagan Narang. What was funnier was Abhinav Bindra’s failure to qualify for finals being dubbed as an upset in most news channels despite below-par performances from the man who got India’s first individual Olympic gold.

Whenever there is a conversation about football going on all people talk about is Messi vs Ronaldo and ‘el clasico’.Every person will claim to be a fan of either Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in EPL. Although most of these self-claimed ‘football fans’ don’t even know manager of their club or even the name of their captain. Most of these fans support Spain or Brazil in FIFA tournaments. If asked the reason behind their support of a particular club, their answer is fixed- ‘I like how this club plays or this club has a rich history (in terms of trophies won).’ The messed up part is how is anyone attracted to Chelsea’s bugging defensive game and why then would you support clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea when Nottingham Forest, Leeds United and Aston Villa have far richer history (in terms of trophies). Also, one would notice steep rise in supporters of Manchester City over the past year. They definitely don’t have as rich a history as their city rivals and their game is not as attractive and fluid play, so one does need to question, why do you support Manchester City??

Similarly in Tennis ,everyone’s favourite- Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal. Even over here, Djokovic and Murray have increased their ‘fan base’ in India. Hockey is probably one team sport (apart from cricket) where India’s favourite player is an Indian. Trending Now- Sardar Singh and Sandeep Singh. “In F1-Michael Schumacher will win this year’s driving championship. Saina Nehwal is world Badminton champion” are the best messed up facts one manages to hear from friends or in public when sports is trending worldwide.

Olympics is one multi-sport event during which players like Jayant Talukdar, Ranjan Singh Sodhi, Deepika Kumari , Shiva Thapa, Mary Kom rise to fame. Every person brings forth his set of rules and regulations of that sport and then everyone eagerly hopes that he was right. Sushil Kumar did become famous for his bronze in Beijing games and became more famous now but most still don’t know whether he takes part in Greco-Roman or Freestyle wrestling. Vijender’s weight category is still unknown to most, the event in which Bindra won Gold still would get you the answer ‘shooting’ and not 10m air rifle. People are still confused as to whether the winner of 1996 Atlanta bronze was Paes or Bhupathi.

The only increase is in TV viewership. But even over here, it’s to show that ‘I watched the sport live unlike you and am a true sports fan.’ Most youngsters who play football at a young age generally don’t even try to pursue it professionally as in India a taboo still exists-“There are just 3 professions in India- Engineer, Doctor or CA.” Despite the nation achieving all-time highs in terms of performances in international competition, parents still feel cricket is the only sport that can be pursued professionally.

One factor that many feel is leading to slowdown in development of Indian sports is the politics and regionalism involved in sports bodies. Hockey lost a significant number of close observers and die hard fans due to HI-IHF saga. Football and tennis loses quite a few talents solely on basis of a politician being head of the organization who doesn’t seem to give up his post till eternity. A good participation from ex-sportsmen in administration will lead to the good of sport in the country. Regionalism in team selection in sports, even as popular as cricket, damages the reputation of the game. Tennis was also in the news for wrong reasons due to unprofessional behavior by Bhupathi and Paes during the build-up to the London Olympics. As far as other sports are concerned, lack of sports infrastructure in itself is damaging participation in that sport. With just 5% of the people who actually are sports fanatics, the Government doesn’t find the need to develop infrastructure further and thus, these 5% leave their first love for the 3 professions.