Opinion | Asian Games Performance Proves India’s Rise as a Sports Superpower is Inevitable

For decades, India has been a country fascinated by one sport alone – cricket. Nothing brings Indians together like cricket. The past few years, however, have seen the emergence of a genuine interest in other sports as well. This becomes evident with the kind of attention India’s Asian Games performance has garnered. India has bagged 71 medals at the Asiad games up until Wednesday, October 4. This is India’s best performance at the Asian Games ever.

India has taken a slew of measures in the past few years to no less than overhaul the sports industry. There were far too many challenges drawing Indian sportspersons down. While some issues still persist, there is a genuine sentiment that there is a rapid and visible change underway.

Making Sense of India’s Recent Sports Performances

The Asian Games are set to close on October 8. Presently, India stands at the 4^th position on the charts. India has come a long way. The last time it was this close to the top three nations at the Asian Games was in 1962, when it was in fact the third-ranked nation on the charts. At the first Asian Games in 1951, India clinched the second spot. Since 1986, this is the first time India has broken into the top five nations on the Asiad chart. India’s worst position was in 1990 when it stood 11^th out of the 36 countries that participated.

In 2018, India had its best performance in terms of number of medals won, as it brought 70 medals home. However, even with 70 medals, India only achieved the 8^th position. India is expected to hold on to the 4^th position on the chart after the Games draw to a close. Essentially, India has scripted history at the ongoing Asian Games.

India has traditionally been strong in Wrestling and Boxing. However, in recent years, India’s performance in athletics has also improved. Neeraj Chopra became the first sportsman to bring an athletic Olympic Gold to India. He recently won India’s first Gold at the World Athletics Championship as well. At the Asian Games in Hangzhou, India has so far secured nine Athletic medals.

India’s rising stature in the world of sports is no fluke. As mentioned earlier, India has been a very cricket-centric nation. As such, people watching, appreciating and celebrating victories of Indian sportspersons in events other than cricket becomes an incredible achievement. In recent years, not only have Indians embraced other sporting activities, but have also wholeheartedly cheered for those bringing laurels to the country.

When India registered its best performance ever at the Olympics in the 2020 Tokyo Games, every Indian was exhilarated. India broke its previous best of six medals in a single Olympics edition by winning a record total of seven medals. It ranked 48^th on the charts – again, its best standing in at least four decades. The same year, India also recorded its best-ever performance in the Paralympics. Add to that, India won its first-ever Thomas Cup, scripting badminton history last year.

Overhauling Sports in India: A Project with Long-Term Goals

The Modi government deserves credit for its special emphasis on re-energising India’s sports culture, ensuring India’s sportspersons — especially those competing internationally — have all that they need, whether it be in terms of infrastructure, training, resources or exposure. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Modi exhorted the progress made in strengthening India’s sports culture, saying, “In the past 9 years, a new era of sports began in India that is not just about making India a new power in sports but also is an era of empowering society through the medium of sports.”

The Centre has increased India’s sports budget by three times, or 70 per cent since 2014. From a mere Rs 874 crore in 2014, India’s sports budget has gone up to Rs 2,462 crore. Best-performing sportspersons are also receiving an annual allowance of Rs 5 lakh every year.

Several sportspersons now say that they train in the best facilities in India and abroad, all of which are funded by the government. In an article for The New Indian Express last year, PV Sindhu noted: “We don’t have to worry about our training, getting the right coaches, sports science support or specialised training equipment. This kind of support is not extended to sportspersons in most countries.”

In August, PM Modi said the government is setting up Khelo India Centres of Excellence in every state and these efforts will become the foundation of a new India in the sports world. He directed the sports ministers of all states to ensure that no sporting talent is overlooked and that more local competitions and tournaments are held in the country. States have been asked to identify short-term, medium-term and long-term goals, apart from focusing on sports infrastructure and tournament-specific training.

A number of initiatives are playing an instrumental role in preparing Indian sportspersons and athletes to shine on the global stage. These include the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and the Khelo India initiative.

• TOPS: The Target Olympic Podium Scheme was introduced in 2015. It has been instrumental in ensuring that a “core group of athletes” have all the necessary personalised support in terms of foreign exposure, hiring of specific coaches, training and competition abroad.TOPS prepares a core group of sportspersons for international championships and tournaments. It also lays a special focus on young, up-and-coming talent to train them for future Olympic Games.
• Khelo India: The National Programme for Development of Sports, also known as Khelo India was launched in 2018. This programme has been critical in establishing grassroots connect with talented sportspersons and those with the potential to shine. It aims to drastically improve India’s sports culture byorganising talent identification events, structured sporting competitions and focusing on infrastructure development. Under this programme, Khelo India State Centres of Excellence are being developed in all states.
• Creation of Sports Ministry: A dedicated Union Ministry was created in 2020 to streamline all sports-related efforts and establish a point agency in the Centre to deal with various sports issues in India.

Besides, the Centre is pushing all states, especially those in the Northeast to ensure that there are at least two Khelo India Centres in each district. This comes after the creation of India’s first National Sports University in Manipur, which cost about Rs 800 crore. In Uttar Pradesh, the Major Dhyan Chand Sports University is being built at a cost of Rs 700 crore. It will come equipped with modern and state-of-the-art sports infrastructure including synthetic hockey ground, football ground, etc. It will also have facilities for Shooting, Squash, Gymnastics, Weightlifting, Archery, Canoeing, and Kayaking.

While a lot has been done to improve India’s sports culture, there is a lot more which still remains to be done. Some major challenges continue to plague India’s sports industry, especially administrative and bureaucratic ones. For starters, India still needs to put a lot more money into its sports system. For perspective, India’s per capita sports budget stands at Rs 3397.32 crore. For a population of more than 140 crore, this means that every Indian is allocated Rs 24 per year for sports. This pales in comparison to the European Union’s Rs 8,000 per capita sports budget. Often, those engaged in sports administration are people who have never been invested or involved in sports themselves. This creates a disconnect between sportspersons and those appointed to look after their issues. There is also much still left to be desired in terms of private-sector participation in sports.

India also needs to start investing in mega sports events, inviting bids to host these events and drawing more international sportspersons to the country. Sports is one area where India can gain a lot of international exposure. For sports to be a true success in India, sportspersons must see it as a viable career option and not just a stop-gap mechanism until they are given a government job. This requires systemic change.

India is on the path of scripting a sports miracle, but when and on what scale it does so will depend on how the government addresses lingering challenges in the system. Having said that, India is far past the era of an extremely small number of sportspersons bringing laurels to the country.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.