While heaping praise on Neeraj Chopra for bagging a gold medal in the World Athletic championships recently, let us not forget that it was just one single individual who shone with his personal brilliance. It was not an indication that India has risen in world athletics. The rest of the contingent returned home without a single medal. Barring Neeraj Chopra, the total scored by all other Indian athletes was a big zero.
Victory in sports creates an image of the country in the minds of people across the whole world. The common man everywhere does not understand economic theories and GDP statistics. But if he sees a Chinese team defeat an American team, it enters his head that China has become a very strong nation. This is where India has failed miserably. It continues to be taken very lightly in international sport.
All other participants failed
India sent a contingent of 23 men and four women athletes to the World Athletic Championships in Hungary. And what was the result? Just one gold medal by Neeraj and absolutely nothing by anyone else. USA topped the medal tally with a total of 29 medals. Far behind in second place was Canada with a total of 6 medals. Then came Spain, Jamaica, Ethiopia and Kenya in the top six places in the medal tally.
India was a poor 18th with just one gold medal to its name. India was placed alongside countries like Burkina Faso, Dominican Republic and Bahrain which also won a solitary gold medal.
How long will India depend upon the greatness of one or two individuals to cover up the failures of the many? The same situation was witnessed when P T Usha was at her peak in the 1980s. Usha at least had a few other compatriots like Shiny Wilson, and Ashwini Nachappa who were almost as good. But it was sad to see that in 2023, India had only one medal winner.
Smaller countries did better
Even small countries which do not have the resources, infrastructure and manpower that India has, did better. Jamaica with a population of only 28.3 lakh has become a powerhouse in world athletics. Ethiopia which is plagued by myriad difficulties of economic, political and ethnic upheavals performed better than India. Kenya too has outshone India.
Our leaders who lose no opportunity to claim that India is a rising power and put forth statistics to prove their claims have nothing to say when India does badly in world sport. In sport, one cannot hide behind false statistics or make tall claims. In sport, everything is transparent and every defeat is there for millions to see.
India’s record is the worst
At the Olympic Games, India’s medal winning ability is the worst in the world when it comes to medals per head of population. A country of 1,400 million people is happy to win five or six medals at the Olympics. We turn our medal winners into deities but turn a blind eye to the fact that very few succeed.
Who is responsible?
Who is to blame for this poor show? First and foremost it is the government. India, despite its wonderful space programme, is still basically a poor nation in terms of per capita income, and sport has never been a priority for the government. Cricket succeeds on its own but all other sports need the government’s planning and financial support. Not enough is being done to bring Indian athletics up to world standards.
Secondly the media must share the blame for the ongoing poverty of medals. The media is focussed on cricket and neglects other sports. If the Word Athletic Championships which concluded recently had been a cricket tournament, we can imagine how much criticism would have been heaped upon those responsible for the debacle.
But because it was an athletic championship, the media will quickly forget about the fiasco and put its focus back to cricket. There will be no analytical articles, no criticism and no breast beating.
India’s sporting image depends upon Olympic Sports, not cricket. Sports such as athletics, football, boxing, basketball, volleyball etc are followed by sports fans in hundreds of countries. The media must do its bit to improve the state of affairs in these sports. Critical and analytical articles have to be put out against the irresponsible officials, administrators and athletes who have let the country down and spoiled India’s image in the world of sports.
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