The Hindu Business Line : The malaise of Indian sport

The anticlimactic end to India's challenge at the ongoing Cricket World Cup raises the spectre of the country being wiped off the global sport map if you ignore purely mental sport such as chess. This apprehension is not at all exaggerated given the scare given by the so-called minnows whose participation in successive World Cups is increasing pointing to the beginning of the end of an era when cricket was an esoteric sport. Imagine major sporting nations such as China, the US, Germany and Russia wielding the willow, and the gravity of the situation would be clear.

India has been going to successive Olympics in the philosophical spirit that participation is more important than winning medals. Many attribute this to lack of killer instinct amongst Indians. But to say that lack of killer instinct alone is the Achilles heel of Indian sport would be oversimplifying the problem. For, there are more fundamental issues bedevilling the Indian sport. Foremost amongst them is the lack of a sport culture in the country despite having a full-fledged Sports Ministry at the Centre.

Even well-heeled parents condescend to send their wards to sport academies and stadiums strictly as a pastime for them, with top priority being education. Things are no better at schools. The ubiquitous PT (physical training) master's services are used more to disciplining the unruly children rather than spotting the latent sporting talent in them and grooming them to perfection. It is therefore no use blaming the government for the dismal state of Indian sport.

Couch Potatoes

Satellite television has its shares of pluses and minuses. Its unintended spin off is emergence of a frighteningly huge number of young couch potatoes. One does not mind senior citizens alternately guffawing and sobbing day in day out in front of the television. But making toddlers and school-going children an ally albeit unwittingly in this passivity is to put it mildly undesirable. Our children must be rescued from the pernicious influence of cinema both for the sake of their physical and mental health. There is no reason why every child should not be compelled to play in the school. Marks obtained in sport must be given the same weightage that is given to regular subjects such as science and social-studies. Only then the slogan catch them young would carry meaning. The sporting culture thus inculcated would have its spin offs and go a long way in stemming the rot.

In its wake, the school administration as well as parents would take sport more seriously. Sports infrastructure at grassroots level would improve substantially.

Sports Academies

Time was when captains would hand over the ball to spinners once the sheen was even superficially taken off the new ball. The MRF Pace Foundation ended this embarrassment for Indian cricket by investing in infrastructure and coaches. Britannia Tennis Academy has also done pioneering work in attracting and nurturing tennis talent. The corporate sector may be given a 150 per cent weighted deduction for expenditure on sporting activities (excluding on TV commercials during sporting events) while computing their income a la the leg-up given to in-house R&D efforts of pharma and other companies.

The short point is one National Institute of Sports cannot take us very far on the sport front. There must be a concerted all-round national effort if we are going to end the medal draught at Olympics.

(The author is New Delhi-based chartered accountant.)