India as a Sporting Nation

This is my first article on wiwbee and I couldn’t think of a better topic than evaluating India’s position as a sporting nation. You might surely agree that India has begun to express itself as a strong sporting nation off late.

• The Indian cricket team’s tour of Australia where they fought bravely in the test series and emerged triumphant in the one day matches; or
• The strong showing of the Indian team at the Davis Cup led by an inspirational Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi; or
• A superb showing by Chethan Anand in the Yonex Indian open where he reached the finals; or
• The victory in the Golf tourney by SSP Chowrasia; or
• In the Asian Games where we came away with a rich haul of medals.

 These are a few strong testimonies to this thought.

Have you ever thought as to why this upsurge of India in the sporting world has happened? The answer lies in the fact that a strong link exists between a nation's growth and how it expresses itself on the sporting front.

When I say country and its growth as a sporting nation, I mean its ability to do well in sports in all forms like athletics to national sports to other popular sports to relatively foreign sports for that country. What makes a strong sporting nation? (This is quite similar to asking a question which country is strong in its economy.) When a country has quenched its thirst on all the other fronts like national security, growth, high standard of living for its citizens etc, it can think about expressing itself globally. This is when a strong sporting nation announces its arrival. The economy of that country is so strong that it can now provide the infrastructure, the amenities needed to breed strong sportspersons. 

India as a nation is very young. And as a sporting nation it’s in nascent stages. We can’t compare the number of medals India wins in Olympics with that of USA or China or even Australia for that matter. Those nations have been independent and developed for quite sometime now. The facilities which they provide to their sportspersons are world class and they have the money power to support it. A country like USA can afford to sponsor an athlete for his whole lifetime if he/she can guarantee them a medal. On the other hand a country like China has been training their athletes from a long time and providing them with immaculate facilities, with an eye to perform well in the Olympics they will be hosting. 

Australia, which has nothing to prove on other fronts, finds sports as a way of expressing itself. Be it Cricket, Hockey, Swimming, or Tennis, it keeps on producing champions. By saying Australia doesn’t have to prove itself, I mean, like America or China or any other developed nation it doesn’t have to take care of a billion peoples needs or finding ways of helping people from different faiths to live side by side or worry itself about its lost glories. 

On the other hand, India has to overcome so many barriers even before it can think of making it big on the sporting scene. Even in the ongoing Olympics India is sending a mere 57 athletes. Smaller countries who have lesser population, which indirectly means lesser talent to choose from, are still able to send many more athletes. All this points a finger directly to the infrastructure which is minimal and the awareness amongst the public which seems to  be restricted only to the metropolitan and may be a few more cities and Town crowds. Once we start getting people from small towns and villages, along with people from cities involved, this scenario is surely going to change 

And all signs are there for the world to see, that it is slowly but surely making progress. Achievements in sports starting from Cricket to relatively foreign sports like golf are all big indications that we are heading in the right direction. I can also see a strong trend of our sportsmen coming from the middle class section of the society. For example our cricket captain M S. Dhoni, or the golfer SSP Chowrasia have all had humble beginnings. I strongly believe that the strong value system imbibed in them and their dedicated efforts have paid off in them becoming what they are today. 

Sports is no longer restricted to a privileged few, it has started to belong to the people. If a Dhoni or a Chowrasia or even for that matter Sania Mirza can rise from such unassuming beginnings and reach where they are now, why cant other common people like you and me dream to make it big on the sporting front. India in sports is finding its voice. It has started to become fearless. In imbibing all the good aspects of its past champions it is starting to interpret and renew the past culture and present itself to the world as a Bold and Courageous sporting nation.

One thing we can be assured of is that the path ahead is going to be no bed of roses. It has to proceed from strength to strength. Along the course will come some setbacks like the ouster of Indian men’s hockey team from the Olympics, but these should be no roadblocks. We have to take them chin up and strive to get better and prove all those doubting Thomases wrong and emerge as a strong, fair and victorious sporting nation.