WHY WE DO NOT PRODUCE OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALISTS

[timmy]

You were planning a trip to India. What happened?

Nothing has happened yet -- that's the problem! Well, this is not quite true. I have had a change in employment, and this may ultimately help my travel plans along. In other words, I have been having a problem with collecting art, specifically pictures of dead presidents. (Our money usually has pictures of presidents on it.)

Until you come here and LIVE here you wont know what we are talking about. ... but you really need some practical experience to go with it.

I can heartily agree with your statements here! That's one reason why I'd like to come over.

What about the present? Where are we going now? No, I do not underestimate my fellow Indians. Given a chance they perform very well and do not lack talent. But do you know the hurdles an average man has to cross in his daily life just to get what is his basic right? After all this a person is just plain exhausted.

I can accept your point. The issues and problems you allude to are daunting. However, in the overall scheme of things, I think that India's government, whatever the state of it may be, is positioned to succeed where many other governments are doomed to fail. For instance, take China. All may seem well and rosy on the outside there, but there are undercurrents that will be difficult for the Chinese system to deal with in the future. In other words, there are "bills to be paid."

That's not to say that India does not have future issues that will need to be faced. But my take is that you are much better positioned to deal with these issues than other countries are, such as China.

I will grant you that this is just my opinion. I do think I'm right (I'm silly, but not so silly as to believe things I know are wrong!), but I cannot disagree with anything you are saying.

Sorry, I do not want to go on with my ramblings. I respect you for your knowledge and appreciate the time you give this forum, please do not take this on a personal level. This was not my intention.

Oh, no, there's no offense taken! I expect that you'd have strong views on the situation in India. All I could ever offer is the view of someone on the outside who is looking in.

One thing I can say is that there are things I see where I live that I consider difficult problems and grave injustices, as well. This is not to say that what I see here is worse, better, or equal to what you see. It's only to note that I can understand your dissatisfaction with the current state of things and your impatience with the rate of change for the good.

BTW, the time I give to IFG is my privilege and pleasure!

[timmy]

I might add, I am very sad to see that the Tata Nano won't come out in a diesel version. I was quite interested in such a car!

[Skyman]

My two pies is that while we do not lack skill or ability, a large part of the populance are merely concerned with making a living.Very few can actively practice sports whilst not earning.Not everyone is as determined as Dhyan Chand was.Army man by day, hockey practice at night.

They say 75% of the population live in perpetual hunger.I can tell you by experience you will do whatever to not be hungry.The rest have their own problems i guess, or bigger priorities.Everyone is trying hard to not be miserable.Who cares about sports save when cricket is on tv?

[perfectionist1]

Agree with @skyman.

Can anyone tell me single training center (even paid) for Fencing anywhere in India.
In that matter try google'ing boxing, cycling etc all you will get will be a weblink with "Association" detailing secretary, general secretary...name of which will be IAS sahebs, with no interest in sports.

Please try to put yourself in shoes of a sports enthusiast in any discipline from anywhere or any strata of society barring people with blackmoney or filthy rich guys, if the boy or girl only concentrates on sports and do nothing, then there is no means or ways to eat, let alone bear the expense of equipments, training etc.

I am an sports enthusiast based in National Capital and earn fine from the job I do, I tried but cant take up any sports.

Do you know I read somewhere - our champ Mary Kom earns just $589 per month (I am not 100% sure, but I read on webpage of a newspaper) from an honarary job at local police. I think in US, sport people might be drinking energy drinks for more than this amount in a month.

I tried to serve the country by joining Territorial Army as an officer, they pay peanuts, rest they want to be accomodated by your employer for one - two months in an year, which employer will permit something like this in India, they will say...go have fresh air.

For shooting sports, or any sports...we really have to be either God's favourite child or Child of rich father to survive.

What a pity....what is happening with all locked down sporting facilites which was created for common wealth games in India...they are left to rot.

FACT: With income tax at 30% you have just 70% of your income left, then there are cuts like PF, gratuity, etc, etc, then from the salary that comes to your account, you pay 12.36% service tax ( even on life insurance premium, except LIC) and 5-10% VAT/CST on an average 10% then the actual salary remains 40-45% in hand...every one knows the un even inflation in India, so at the end does a person who is earning his livelihood with honesty and dignity, would he/ she care to foot electricity bills, education fee, grocery, EMIs OR spend in playing or pursuing a self funded, single sided interest, time consuming sport.

Sirs, sorry to say, with present state sports in India can never nurture.

But I still have hope that one day we will be able to change the things towards positive side.

Cheers....

[Vassili Zaitsev]

Whatever said and done but we could managed to get another silver and Bronze by the Indian Wrestlers. Breathtaking fights and I am proud to say that our Indian athletes made us proud…
There are lots of differences but at last nice to see our players gave their best.

[Rajat]

@ TImmy: You are looking at the broader picture. The problem does not lie at the macro level. You have to go down to the grass root level to get to know whats wrong.

Once you have finalized the trip do share the itinerary with us.

Well it seems we were able to get a few medals at the Olympics after all.

[AgentDoubleS]

I'll give my 2 cents to the subject too having seen a bit of sports in India.

I've participated at the District and National Level in Hockey (represented Madhya Pradesh under-18) and at various GV Mavlankars held across the country in the .22 rifle category.

Incidentally, these are the Top 2 medal earning sports for the country in India's Olympic history. Hockey -11 !!! Shooting - 4. Out of the 26 medals in 100 years 15 come out of the sports I have at least seen till the national level.

The question I ask is how did we even manage 15??! I'll restrict myself to mentioning my experiences at the grassroot level.

At district level competitions in Hockey I have stayed in school classrooms without fan/electricity, slept on the floor (without mattress!) for a week during the tournament. Bath had to be taken in a river nearby. Our team had to walk carrying our kits (and the goal keeper's kit is no featherweight) a few kilometers to play a match only to be told the venue had been changed. A few kilometers walk again. The matches were held in stony football grounds temporarily converted to hockey fields. I never played on AstroTurf (the common standard across the world) till i played my first National level match! But thankfully that was the case with most players in our and the opposition team

GV Mavlankars were well organized albeit I had the luxury of being part of a club. I decided to start shooting again over roughly 1.5 years ago and have been working through the system for that long- no exaggeration. And I have not fired my first shot at the range yet. That, when I have national level participation proof. I often go to the range and dry practice because I do not have ammunition. I could go on and on on this subject but won't bore you with details.

If I draw an analogy, our few and sprinkled medal winners are like Mustangs who have weathered bureaucracy, regionalism and have toiled their way through the poor infrastructure and still managed to produce a world class performance. We are beaten down by the American and Chinese thoroughbreds trained and made superior by a systemic approach that includes (but is not limited to) a world class infrastructure.

It's always an interesting question- why do countries like Belarus, Kazakhstan etc produce world class performances, when they probably don’t have the infrastructure or finances to match.

My guess- unlike our govt. their governments probably don’t interfere!

[goodboy_mentor]

Come on guys, most of you are unnecessarily thinking on negative lines. If you observe the matters objectively, we are a nation of champions and "medalists" of a different type. Population of our undivided country was only around 30 crores around 1947. Population of our divided country today has almost crossed 120 crores. Where on earth do we find such great champions? We have even surpassed China in increasing our population density per square kilometer of the country. Now apply your mind what kind of havoc and pressures does over population play on the life of people.

[perfectionist1]

only Haryana is the state that is truly honouring its sports people. (PS: I am not from Haryana)

Kudos to them