I'll tell you why:
- Our annual sports budget is far too meagre for a country our size compared to other countries [there are signs of that changing]. Consider for instance, that in the 2008 fiscal, the sports budget was a meagre $280-odd million. In comparison, China earmarked $2 billion for the Beijing Olympics- about 7 times that amount. We can argue that it was their 'homecoming' all day long, but the fact is that they did it- with telling success.
- Now, a good chunk of that budget is channeled towards meeting administrative expenses and salaries of officials and coaches and bureaucrats, leaving the crucial training of athletes with the balance. The few dozen international stars that India has managed to produce: Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwaal, Leander Paes, etc. succeed inspite of, not because of, the system.
- The problem is not a lack of talent. You and I know that, we see it all around us - this nation of a billion people has tremendous potential. But given the all-pervasive bureaucratic insensitivity, and as a consequence of that, sub-par training camps and poor infrastructure, we are reduced to selling our athletes short shrift, and seeing them 'barely make it' out of the top three instead of winning glittering guerdon. Let me quote K P Gaekwad, a former national-level athlete, who now runs his own training academy: "In India, intensive training of selected Olympians begins a few months before the start of the Games. In this last-minute scramble, athletes are sent abroad and foreign coaches hired. Is this any way to win Olympic gold?"
- We also seem to be stuck in a time-warp when it comes to thinking about training: in recent years global sport has become particularly hi-tech, and the need for sophisticated equipment and 'auxiliary personnel' such as therapists, nutritionists and psychologists ever more important. We, on the other hand, seem to think that all a sportsman needs is a good coach and hours of practice. I know weightlifters for instance, that eat a whole chicken, half a kilo of beef, soy milk, yoghurt and a dozen eggs a day as 'staples' apart from their regular meals, thinking that 'more protein' would improve their performance, without realizing that they're consuming a horrendous amount of cholesterol. Being competitive in anything other than at a regional, South Asian or Commonwealth level will require the inclusion of adequate physicians, psychologists and nutritionists to calibrate performance to nanoseconds.
- It is also telling, that while sports education, or P.T as we call it, is mandatory in the academic curriculum, about 40% of government-schools don't have a playground. I was lucky enough to attend a decent convent school that made us play in our physical training hour till we dropped: rugby with a makeshift ball made of school ties, soccer, running laps, leg cricket, lagori, you name it all. But the only "physical education" (in school) that most children in this country get are quasi-military-style 'drills' in the front courtyard.
- Apart from ossified mindsets and poor facilities however, we have no long term strategy for nurturing and discovering youth. The government has done little to develop athletic facilities or invite world-class trainers and sports managers to provide sporting clinics. Most sporting stars come from the private school system, which only caters to a third of the kids in the country. These have a better system in place, but with little governmental support, are always restricted in scope and scale. We could take heed of China's success, which has exploited a rigorous and extensive sporting system, to become an olympic powerhouse.
- And finally, the issue of management: sporting bodies in India are plagued with retired bureaucrats appointed to such 'honorary' positions, and accountable to no one, knowing very little of the sports they superintend, but rather taking advantage of the foreign junkets, international accommodation and other perks they enjoy. Replacing them with sports professionals that are dynamic and more knowledgeable will go a long way in making India a sporting power.
