One of the major reasons Indians aren't doing too well in most sports is the lack of facilities and funds for sports at a grass roots level (interestingly, the areas we do well in - cricket, golf, billiards, chess, shooting to name a few - require HUGE amount of funds!). Unlike the US, there is no such thing as a sports scholarship, colleges do not give you admissions for leading their football and basketball teams, and very few sportsmen can really hope to make a career from playing. No wonder, most of us stop playing once we reach the 10th standard!
Estimates of spending on the 2010 CWG range from 10000 to 30000 crores. Even if you factor in the Kalmadi accounts, that's still a huge amount of money. Yes, it improved the city infrastructure (hopefully), and gave us some new stadiums and medals, and recognition (good or bad) in the eyes of the world.
The Buddha Circuit, used for the Indian Grand Prix, was estimated to have cost 10 billion rupees (215M USD). Other than a very elite few, the facilities are not even in limits to most of our 1 billion countrymen.
The question, then, is - is this spending on sports justified? Is it such a big deal if we don't win medals? Do we need medals, or should we rather spend on improving the quality of life through education, infrastructure, irrigation, and healthcare?
Here are some perspectives.
The total Indian government budget amount for 2012-12 is, guess what, 15 lakh crore. When you consider that staggering amount, you realise that 30000 crore is tiny. A fraction of the money this country has available to spend year on year.
Secondly, sports isn't just about winning medals. Sports is about improving the health of children, it's about inculcating a fighting spirit, it's about giving children something positive to fight for - taking them away from drugs and illegal activities. In many African countries, the UN uses sports to take care of children ravaged by war and AIDS, give them something to live for.
And if you take a country like India, I think it's just a matter of time. Hockey and football may be on the wane, but who would have thought a few years back that tennis and badminton would be our best medal hopes? Who would have counted on boxing? And a world champ in Chess? And who knows, a few years later, maybe we will break into gymnastics and swimming too!
Until then, fingers crossed, looking eagerly at sparks from London, and cheering the 2 ball win over Sri Lanka!
1 comment:
I think spending on sports is justified(although the F1 is unabashedly pretentious) because physical activity is certainly one of the cogs in the wheel to improve quality of life. In a country of so many people, it is unbelievable that we don't win gold medals because of the lack of talent. A successful sportsman is going to inspire others to follow him or her. You are right about sport not being medals alone but the medals are just a reward for great sporting infrastructure.
Why should every aspiring sportsman be a Tendulkar follower? We need role models in other activities to bring our other sporting abilities to the fore and install that competitiveness.
We all know children in India who represent a vast majority of our population, are not that privileged as compared to some of their western counterparts but what they lack in facilities they make up with their unbridled enthusiasm. Sport is one way to channel their energies and if combined with education then the ability to show that fighting spirit under adverse circumstances will eventually permeate into the national consciousness.
So I think sport is definitely the spark to India's internal and global ambitions.
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