Is India emerging as Sporting Powerhouse or not ? -

September 3, 2021

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Is India emerging as Sporting Powerhouse or not ?

Let’s not talk about Cricket where we are a powerhouse and Men in Blue started taking slow steps towards becoming the invincible side that post-1983 where India won the World Cup under the leadership of Kapil Dev.

Let’s talk about other sports and most importantly on Olympics and Paralympics where a majority of Sports events are conducted and more than 100 countries take part under the same roof to bring laurels for their country.

The recently concluded Olympics 2020 where India has bagged 7 medals which is the largest in terms of Olympics held till date and the ongoing Paralympics have brought wonders for India where they have already won 13 medals which is more than 12 medals combined which India have won in Paralympics history till 2016.

Everyone is applauding India for their brilliant performance in the Olympics and Paralympics but the question arises whether India has taken footsteps to become a Sporting powerhouse or not. Let’s have a frank discussion about the same in detail.

Sjoerd Marijne who coached the Indian women’s team where the team finished at the 4^th position in the Olympics said that Hockey India needs to conduct a league for women’s like the way they do it for Men’s hockey team who has been benefitted a lot because of the competition.
Recently a report surfaced that Rajasthan Government didn’t pay salaries to their state players for a long time which include big names like Avani Lekhara, Devendra Jhajhariya and Sundar Singh Gurjar and the moment they won medals in the Paralympics the government became attentive and announced to release salaries of these players.
It is true that SAI, PCI, Ministry of Sports are working hard to provide facilities to these players who are competing in the Olympics and Paralympics but it is evident that Paralympians don’t get equal support like Olympians.
A scheme like TOPS, Khelo India has brought changes in the Indian Sporting mindset but these schemes should be operated in a fast-paced manner to support more athletes.
Indian government should organize more competitions for these athletes at least one competition in every state will help athletes prepare in a better way and also the state government has to ensure that International athletes should also take part so that athletes can get top-notch competition.