During a session of the International Olympic Committee in October last year, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally declared India’s interest in bidding for the 2036 Olympics. But is the sports system of India geared up to tackle all the aspects of organising such a mammoth event?
As everyone knows, the Olympic Games have become big and unwieldy in recent times. On several occasions, many host countries have run up enormous expenses which they could not recover.
Hosting the Games entails massive investments in infrastructure like roads, flyovers, hospitality and housing. Therefore, unless the host country wins a large number of medals and gains success in numerous sports, all this effort and expense will not be worth it. In the case of India, the country still has a long way to go to become an Olympic powerhouse.
At the previous Olympic Games, India bagged seven medals. It was the best ever performance. But India must win about 50 medals if and when it hosts the Games. Only then the venture will be deemed successful.
According to P.V. Ramana, father of P.V. Sindhu, if India has to make a quantum jump in the number of Olympic medals then preparations must begin now.
When it comes to knowledge of big sports events, Ramana’s storehouse is enormous. He himself was an international volleyball player who represented India in the Asian Games and won a bronze medal. The government bestowed upon him the Arjuna award. He took part in numerous other major sports events. His spouse Vijaya too was a national level player. Then he brought up his daughter to become one of India’s most successful players with two Olympic medals in her kitty.
Select capable youngsters now
Speaking to Siasat.com, Ramana said: “If India is planning to host the Olympics in 2036, we must immediately select the most promising 13, 14 and 15 year old boys and girls in each sport and begin training them in earnest. So that, by the time 2036 arrive, they will be in the age group of 25 to 27 and be ready to become Olympic champions.”
Gold or nothing
“We must aim for gold medals. Not silver or bronze. The attitude that every medal is good enough has to be discarded. Gold or nothing should be the new motto. That is what successful countries do when they prepare for the Olympics,” said Ramana.
“But that’s not all. For a player to succeed, he or she must have an insatiable appetite for winning. There must be unending hunger for victory. I have seen some Indian players who have immense talent but they don’t get as many victories as we expect from them. It’s because they are not hungry enough to make the sacrifices that are required,” Ramana said.
Siasat.com also asked him about the standard of sports medicine in India and whether it was as good as the standards seen in Europe or the USA.
Ramana replied that sports medicine in India was as good as in any developed country. But the facilities were not being used in the right way. The medical system has to be excellent because if an athlete gets injured then he or she has to recover fast to win the gold medal.
Role of coaches should be restricted
“In India, we have coaches who interfere too much. A coach’s job is to devise strategy. What happens on the court or field is the job of a coach. But outside the courts, when there is no contest going on, let the other experts take over. Let the dietician decide the player’s diet. Let the doctor repair the injuries. Trust them and allow them to do their work without hampering them,” he said.
“We have the latest state of the art apparatus to gauge a player’s fitness. At the Netaji Subhas NIS south centre in Bengaluru, the experts who treated my daughter Sindhu were highly qualified and very helpful. The equipment that exists there is the best in the world. The government is sparing no effort to provide these facilities to our players. So we must allow the experts to do what they are good at doing,” explained Ramana.
“We must begin long term preparations right now. There has to be farsighted and detailed planning. Only if we have that disciplined and wise approach, we can win a greater number of medals. This is the right time to take up that job and begin it in earnest,” concluded Ramana.
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