India & Sports
India is home to many different kinds of passions and obsessions. The population of India
majorly comprises of youths. Therefore, it is necessary not only to address problems faced by
the youths but also provide them opportunities to grow. With the recent achievements in
many sports in India, Sports got more importance than before.
Sport in India is an area which has always managed to unite a large segment of the population
on one side of the aisle. There are seldom instances when Indians unite as a nation behind a
common cause and sporting event are some of those instances. However, the popularity of
sports in India is not equitable by any stretch of the imagination. Some sports dominate much
more than other in terms of sheer popularity and following, while some lag behind in the race
to gain traction. Cricket, without a shadow of a doubt, is the most popular sports in India . As
the saying goes, cricket can be termed as the religion of the country in terms of the pure
obsession and popularity it manages to generate. The future of Indian sports will not be
dictated by cricket alone. Other sports will have to rise to meet their true potential, and this
will be possible only with a dramatic change in the functioning and mentality of the SAI
(Sports Authority of India).
Undoubtedly, there is nothing more engaging than cricket in India when it comes to sports,
however, with some of the recent achievements of Indian players, the pathetic state of affairs
in other sports in India is changing. Our government should take the measures like:
Provide financial support for retired players.
Selection process of players and board members needs more transparency.
Sports-governing bodies head will be an ex-sportsman. This will create job
opportunities for sportsmen as well.
Equal Promotion of all sports, encouragement of every small victory to boost
confidence of players.
Creating awareness in societies, changing the mindset towards the sports.
Setting up sports schools by government.
We should work on it just like a:
Serbia has gold medalist as coaches in high schools as well as colleges to give better
sports education.
China promotes sports through various stages in schools. China invests a good part of
GDP on sports.
After being scoffed at for years, Indian sports persons are getting due recognition in the world
arena. Recent achievements of Indian players in various games and tournaments have earned
them the respect they deserve and the media coverage that will help them propagate their
respective games. Finally, we have lately seen that the interest of the sponsors too has shifted
only from cricket to other sports which is very encouraging for the new talents lurking in the
corners of India. It has been a success ride for Indian sports after the Tokyo Olympics, 2020.
However, this is just the start and the work has to be carried further to promote sports in
every field of discipline. They need to promote sports, not just as a good career but as a good
business proposition too. We need the media to come to the fore-front and help re-vitalise the
sports that have gone down the popularity charts. The channels need to show live coverage of
various games and not just cricket.
Introduction of league for different sports shows that India’s focus on sports other than
cricket is improved. In the coming days, sports will create more job opportunities and
contributes to Indian economy as well. Looking at the present scenario of sports we can say
the condition of sports in India is improving faster than ever. Though we still have a long way
to go to catch up with the global scenario.
