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Beyond Tokyo: Making India the best sporting nation
GUEST COLUMN: In the 2024 Olympics at Paris, we may ensure that all those sportspersons who had qualified this time should win medals in their respective events, especially those who had reached the last 16 of their competitions
We must congratulate our national superheroes for winning seven Olympic medals, including a gold, two silver and four bronze, in the Tokyo Olympics. It’s a much to be celebrated achievement because some lost glory has been restored after decades and the first gold medal in track and field events has been won. Also, for the first time our women’s hockey team reached the semi-finals, giving a lot of hope for the future.
The euphoria across the nation is as expected and it’s heartening to see governments announcing cash rewards and incentives to the medal winners, sending the right message to budding sportspersons to pursue sports as a career. It’s also time to do some serious thinking and analyse our sports achievements vis-a-vis other countries.
Also read: The goal was to inspire women, we created a legacy: Women’s hockey coach Marijne
Our overall rank in the Tokyo Olympics medal tally is 48. We are a nation of 139 crore with more than 30 crore youth of Olympic participation age, which is almost equal to the population of the US, which has won the highest number of gold medals (39) and the total number of medals (113) in the Tokyo Olympics. Even smaller countries, a few smaller than some of our states, have performed better by winning more medals.
Targets for next three Olympics
Before the euphoria dies down and we get back to our routines, there is a need to formulate policies and create structures for ensuring that India emerges as the best sporting nation in the next few Olympics. As an immediate measure, we can fix some targets based on our present performance and capabilities The following, to my mind can be achievable targets for the next three Olympics.
1. In the 2024 Olympics at Paris, we may ensure that all those sportspersons who had qualified this time should win medals in their respective events, especially those who had reached the last 16 of their competitions, as they are well exposed to the requirement of winning. We may add as many more sports to qualify for the next games so that our participation increases.
2. For the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, our target should be to ensure participation in almost all events that are organised in the Olympics along with ensuring the continuity of the principle of winning medals for all previously participated events.
3.In the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, we should target top positions as the highest gold medals and total medals winning nation.
Systems and structures
The next important question is how these targets can be achieved and what kind of systems and structures should be created. My suggestions are the following:
1.There should be centres of excellence for each major sport or a group of similar games. For example, A centre of excellence each for hockey, football, volleyball and handball, for athletics (running events), throws (javelin, hammer, shotput), wrestling and boxing besides water sports. These can be 15 to 20 and each major Indian state should have one such centre.
2. These centres of excellence should have players at three age levels, namely below 15 years, below 19 years and seniors. Each age group should have 10 times the number of players in a playing team with a minimum of 100 players in each age group to begin with. This number can subsequently be increased according to available talent for that sport.
3.These centres should be residential for full-time training and must provide all facilities to the selected players such as quality board and lodging, diet, even pocket money, so that the players are devoted to their game.
4.These centres should provide facilities for study according to the aspiration and eligibility of the players so that they are not deprived of basic educational qualifications. The teaching hours must be flexible to accommodate the sports timings of the players.
5.The selection of the players should be done by giving sufficient notice for trials to be held at each district headquarters by the teams of highly qualified achievers of the game and coaches in a transparent and objective manner.
6.The centres should have state-of-the-art infrastructure that can be created jointly by the central and state governments. One option can be that the infrastructure is created by the central government and its maintenance and running cost can be met by the state governments or vice-versa. Corporates may also be roped in to sponsor some of these centres.
7.The centres should be managed by top sportspersons and coaches supported by competent professional management experts along with nutrition experts, physiology experts and sports medicine and fitness professionals.
Like Odisha’s initiative for hockey, Punjab can establish a centre for shooting and archery, Haryana for wrestling, Kerala for water sports and Rajasthan for equestrian events. Let the achievements of our sports heroes in the Olympics become a launching pad for our country to become the number one sporting nation of the world. rs_bawa1@rediffmail.com
The writer is pro vice-chancellor of Chandigarh University, Gharuan. Views expressed are personal
