India's abject sporting failures - Is CWG really the ideal preparation for the Olympics?

India’s story at Olympics has been one of great sorrow and regret

The tale of two cities – better known as the differentiation between two things. Here though, it’s much more complicated and harder to differentiate. The CWG and Olympics are hard to separate with concrete facts but to the naked eye, the medals tallies for India as a sporting nation are drastically different in the two tournaments.

CWG – the stage where India has always put its best foot forward

Squash, racing, archery, boxing, wrestling, rifle shooting, badminton, table tennis – name the sport and India has done well in it at the CWG. In the 2010 Games held in the country, India grabbed 38 gold medals, 27 silver and 36 bronze, for a total tally of 101. It was a performance that raised the hopes among the fans for a much better and cheerful performance at an event that was less than two years away – the 2012 Olympics to be held in London.

India’s success at CWG and abject failures at Olympics – 2 different pictures of one sporting nation

With the CWG games being held in India, I made it a point to follow the games closely. And as much as I would have loved for a clean tournament to have taken place, one cannot help but think of the corrupt system that set various obstacles throughout the event, the result of which was worldwide criticism of the lack of infrastructure which was felt all through the tournament. But we’ll get to that bit later.

0 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze – a sorry summation of the Olympic games of 2012 for India

Is ‘failure’ too hard a word to describe this performance? Perhaps. But which word in the English syllable would be able to express the disappointment of Indian fans over this dismal showing on the world stage of the Olympics? All the Indian big guns somehow collapsed and couldn’t put forward a performance anywhere near that in the CWG games of 2010.

Why is it that the Indian athletes cannot replicate their CWG performances during the Olympics? Some argue that it’s not the pressure of the big stage, but the fact that the Olympics boast the presence of two nations which rule global sport – USA and China – that is the cause of India’s sub-par performances. 192 medals were shared among the Americans and Chinese in 2012, which include 46 and 38 gold medals respectively, and those certainly are formidable numbers.

With such dominance from two nations, a country like India is bound to perform poorly, right? WRONG. It's this thinking that has always failed India’s hopes of a successful showing at the Olympics. An Indian sports fan doesn't expect the country’s athletes to conquer 40 gold medals at the Olympics, but at least a decent performance with say 7-8 silvers and 10-12 bronzes is expected from a country with a billion-plus population.

So who is to be blamed for India’s dismal performances at the Olympics? The answer is simple – the infrastructure, or lack thereof. The sporting facilities provided to athletes in their respective countries is the ONLY way to set them straight and get them ready for the ultimate stage of an event like the Olympics.

Are we short-changing our athletes in terms of preparing them for the Olympics?

It’s absolutely shameful to hear criticism about the lack of infrastructure that players are provided with. How can one expect another Mary Kom to come from the north-east corner of India and lead India to a victorious Olympics triumph when a boy from rich family such as Abhinav Bindra has repeatedly criticized the Indian sports ministry for its lack of investment in Indian sports!

Are we actually serious enough about providing our athletes with what it takes to become a nation to be reckoned with at the Olympics? The answer, clearly, is a resounding ‘no’.

Moreover, an event such as the Commonwealth Games isn’t exactly the ideal stage to prepare for the Olympics. Sure, it’s a great tournament and it must be enjoyed to the fullest, but it's in no way a preparation for the Rio Games in 2016, considering the vast difference in levels of competition at the two events. 30+ gold medals in CWG and 0 in Olympics is a hard pill to swallow for a passionate sports fan like me, and I’m sure various other Indians feel the same way.

Step-motherly treatment for some sports continues

Sure, when a Sushil Kumar wins a gold medal at CWG, he gets plenty of media attention. His family and friends are interviewed, and he’s congratulated by everyone. But does the media give him the same kind of attention that they showered upon the Indian cricket team after winning the World Cup?

I hardly need to answer that. Why are we differentiating between athletes and giving superior attention to one sport and neglecting the other?

Ask yourself - do Indian athletes apart from cricketers get training facilities/equipment even remotely close to that provided to USA and Chinese athletes? The answer, again, is ‘no’.

A man from America could identify the talent in these girls which our nation failed to

An American could see the potential in Indian football, but the Indian sports ministry couldn’t

How is it that an American in Franz Gastler could see the potential of great football careers in 18 girls from Ranchi, whereas our sports ministry has barely given them any attention or proper equipment to get them ready for global tournaments?

If a Franzl Gastler from America can provide selfless service to a country like India, which has great sporting talent, why is it that our sporting greats haven’t been able to provide their expertise to Indian sports? What sense does it make to have people running the sports administration that didn’t even represent India in any sport? That's just like saying that a hotel manager is more deserving to cook in the kitchen because the hotel belongs to him/her

There are several reasons for India’s abject failures in the Olympics, and I don’t see that trend stopping any time soon.