Producing sporting talents in India

India, a country of more than one billion, has achieved limited success in the international arena of sports, especially in the Olympic Games. In 1900, India participated in the Modern Olympics for the first time with a lone athlete. Since then, the country has won only nine gold medals, six silver medals and eleven bronze medals in this mega-event of sports. Except hockey, the performance of Indian athletes in specific disciplines in Olympics was not remarkable. Table 1 represents the medals won by the Indian sportspersons in various disciplines in the Summer Olympic Games.

Table 1: India’s Medals in Summer Olympic Games in specific disciplines

Discipline	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Field Hockey	8	1	2	11
Shooting	1	2	1	4
Athletics	0	2	0	2
Wrestling	0	1	3	4
Boxing	0	0	2	2
Tennis	0	0	1	1
Weightlifting	0	0	1	1
Badminton	0	0	1	1

Table 1 reveals that, except hockey, the performance of Indian athletes in Olympic Games was inconsistent and disappointing.

However, an improvement can be observed in the performance of the Indian sportspersons in individual events in the last two Olympics. Table 2 represents the medal won by the Indian athletes in individual events in the Olympic Games since 1952:

Table 2: Performance of Indian Athletes in Individual Events in Summer Olympics

Olympic Games	Discipline	Athlete	Medal
1952 Helsinki	Wrestling	K.D. Jadhav	Bronze
1996 Atlanta	Tennis	Leander Peas	Bronze
2000 Sydney	Weightlifting	K. Malleswari	Bronze
2004 Athens	Shooting	R.S. Rathore	Silver
2008 Beijing	Shooting	Abhinav Bindra	Gold
	Wrestling	Sushil Kumar	Bronze
	Boxing	Vijender Kumar	Bronze
2012 London	Shooting	Vijay Kumar	Silver
	Wrestling	Sushil Kumar	Silver
	Shooting	Gagan Narang	Bronze
	Badminton	Saina Nehwal	Bronze
	Boxing	Mary Kom	Bronze
	Wrestling	Yogeshwar Dutt	Bronze

Despite this improvement, it may be said that our system of sports has failed to produce champions who can make us proud by winning medals consistently in the international competitions. Therefore, it is important for us to understand the crucial factors for producing sporting talents of international repute.

What makes champions in sports?

A long-term, multi-dimensional approach is required for producing sports talents of global standard. The factors which play a crucial role in this process are described below:

i) Facilities: Facilities include both high-quality infrastructure and equipment for training of the athletes. Building stadiums and academies of global standard, making provisions for high-quality sports equipment and establishing scientific laboratories are essential for producing champions in sports.

ii) Coaching Programmes: These programmes are aimed at producing elite-level coaches who will be responsible for preparing athletes for international competitions.

iii) Technology: Modern technology is used in measuring and analyzing time, motion, force, movements, muscle activities etc. This analysis helps an athlete to improve performance in the international events.

iv) Psychological Analysis: Psychological analysis helps the sportspersons in deciding goals, making strategies, maintaining motivation, managing distractions, inculcating teamwork etc, which are important to achieve excellence in the international arena of sports.

v) Physiological Analysis: This is a multi-dimensional analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of an athlete. This analysis plays a crucial role in improving fitness, reducing the possibilities of injuries, reducing the period of recovery etc.

vi) Sports Medicine: A comprehensive programme on sports medicine helps an athlete to achieve sustained excellence in international sports by improving fitness, treating and preventing injuries, undertaking proper recovery and rehabilitation etc. It gives an athlete necessary guidance against doping.

vii) Nutrition: An understanding of nutrition helps an athlete to follow a proper diet which is essential for preparing for an international event.

The three important aspects of producing champions are selecting, nurturing and preparing the talents in order to achieve excellence in sports. The sports federations are responsible in making and executing the comprehensive plans of producing talents, while the Government and the corporate sector should extend their institutional and financial support for the successful execution of this plan.

In Indian sports, there is no coordinated effort among the public, private and non-profit sectors for developing sports of this country. Sport still is a ‘state subject’ and thus the state governments adopt various measures to promote sports in their respective states depending on the level of priority. There is no uniform direction. The sports federations are governed by the political leaders and bureaucrats who hardly concentrate on promoting sports and sportspersons. The corporate sector is still searching for ROI from sports in India, except cricket. These impediments must be removed to provide sustainable sporting opportunities to the sportspersons of this country. We all are waiting to see pro-active roles of these three sectors to produce sports talents who will secure a permanent place for India in the global sporting map.