Olympics and India

It was a truly historic moment to see Abhinav Bhindra win a gold at the olympics.
But why has it taken so long for India to finally win an individual gold.

THIS
article from Saumya, was thought provoking as to what we Indians(who have excelled in all other sphere's) are lacking and what could be done to finally see some gold.

Here are my thoughts. I was going to leave comments on her blogsite but it was long enough to warrant a post.

What steps can be done to improve the state of sports in India:
In my opinion unless the incentive provided is lucrative enough, the interest in sports cannot develop. Just a railways job is not good enough....there have to be better college/school scholarship's. Instead of the n number of existing quotas we can actually have some good college scholarships based on sports.

In India the stress has always been on education....sports is never a viable option. Nowadays parents are becoming more aware and trying to channelise and making their kids all-rounders. But then again they are caught in this web of fierce competition....so after a while it will be you have to score better to secure an engineering seat etc. the cycle continues. So at some level this basic thinking has to change. That will happen only if there is a push with more incentives and encouragement for taking up sports as a career.

Privatising sports is a very good option. Most sports that are privatised, with money flowing in thru events etc have done quite decently. It will be more organised...less bureaucracy!! Take cricket for instance.

Third thing I feel is from the olympics perspective we have to take a check on our strengths ie which sports we are likely to succeed. Sport is a combination of strength/stamina/skill/team work in varying levels. I personally think India would do well in sports that need more of strength/skill. Take the case of China too, they do well in sports that involve more of skill/team work/strength say synchronised diving/badminton/gymnastics. They may not do as well as US in sports that involve pure stamina/speed like track and field. I feel they should identify the area's where they are more sure to find success and hone their skills in those area's. Not stereotyping, but it is just some nations/people maybe cut out for certain sports more than others. Maybe once they identify the areas they want to focus their energy on those. If it is privatised they could have international coaches for training in those sports alone.

Making the training/infrastructure more affordable at schools/college level is another way to generate the interest early on. Schools could have better track and field areas/swimming facilities/sports events.

While typing this blog I was reminded of the essays we used to write for school. :-)
Hope it doesn't remain an essay. Any inputs are most welcome.