After a historic haul of medals at the Olympics, India is at the cusp of a sporting rebirth. The many stakeholders can make this dream a stark reality. Here's how.
Once every four years, every person in India becomes a sports fan, debating & dabbling in the myriad intricacies of Olympic sports seldom spoken about. The political elites, the young adults, the cranky senior citizens and the humble sports fraternity all watch in awe at this grand sporting spectacle, watching India's best colliding with global giants. And after heralding the rare medal winners as national heroes & (rightly) showering them with prizes and accolades, the nation goes back in its sporting hibernation. Cricket again takes the center stage and the others are swatted aside to mediocrity.
To stop this cycle of "dormant interest" (as I have coined it), I present to you a few actionable policies which can truly change the landscape of Indian Sports:
CHANGING THE REWARD STRUCTURE
When it comes to giving cash prizes to Olympic winners, India does not shy away! As per some reports, India has attained a global rank of 5 when it comes to giving cash rewards to its Olympic medalists. However, athletes who came in strikingly close to a podium finish received negligible reward despite putting in similar input. The horrible treatment meted out to Vinesh Phogat was truly shocking, showing how extremely result-centric our sporting culture (whatever little) is.
Instead of such "bounty style" rewards, financial incentives should be given with a progressive structure in place. Every Olympic Gold medal Winner gets a minimum of 75 Lacs from the IOC, excluding the mammoth rewards given by the state governments & the corporate world. Consider the hypothetical example given below as an alternative for those 75 lacs:
10 Lacs: First Podium finish in Junior Global Event
10 Lacs: Breaking in the Top 50/100 in Global Senior Rankings
10 Lacs: Breaking in the Top 5/10 in Global Senior Rankings.
15 Lacs: Podium Finish in International 'A Grade' Event of an Olympic Sport like Wimbeldon, World Athletics Championship, BWF Grand Prix Finals etc.
30 Lacs: Podium Finish at the Olympics
This gives a less lopsided incentive to the athletes & rewards consistent performers handsomely as well.
PROFFESIONALIZING THE FEDERATIONS
Source: InsideSports
The sports federations in India are a bastion of incompetence, mismanagement & neglect, with notable exceptions like the federation of Hockey & Badminton. Let me make it clear that these days, there is no lack of funding from the government. What lacks is proper management & implementation of centrally designed plans. There needs to be a systemic change in this system. Some reforms are suggested below:
Make a minimum quota of 25% federation officials to be retired sportsperson from the same field in both central & state federation. This will make sports federations more empathetic at the very least.
Ban appointment of close & distant relatives of existing officeholders.
Give targets of the minimum number of events to be held per year with explicit standards. To monitor the same, appoint civic volunteers who are changed every year.
Urge federations to tie up with sports-centric NPOs like the GoSports Foundation to build an ecosystem of collaboration & synergy.
I believe this can alleviate their working systems to acceptable levels.
BUILDING SPORTING HUBS
Derived from the economic concept of "Special Economic Zones", Sporting Hubs are a figment of my own imagination. Certain regions in India are known for producing world-class athletes like:
There seems to be something bubbling up when we look at these pockets of space. We can further augment these hubs & build new ones by:
Building truly world-class facilities in such spaces for the known sport with a solid peppering of mini training facilities across the region for other talents to practice in.
Holding training camps for specialist coaches twice a year, calling in the world's best to teach India's next.
Tie up with corporates to sponsor promising training, nutrition & gear of athletes under the now compulsory CSR from economically weaker backgrounds.
Create a higher Sports Quota with subsidized fees in local colleges and secondary schools to incentivize parents.
Launch monetary schemes for athletes who perform well at the international level.
Launch a local tournament under different age groups periodically to catch young talent early.
Such incentives may make a sport dominated by athletes from a certain region but such focused planning can truly create world-class athletes & inside many to take up sports.
REVAMPING SPORTING LEAGUES
The roaring success of the IPL & Pro Kabbadi League has spurned up many short term leagues in India which have failed to garner eyeballs & pique interest. Some of them being the Pro Volleyball League, Pro Wrestling League & Super Boxing League. They were all based on the city-based franchise model with Sports Federations at the helm. However, this cannot work in all sports because:
All federations are not as well run as the BCCI (Cricket) which is essential.
There is a lack of a sporting ecosystem from where new talents can be scouted & trained. In many sports, the only major competition being held are the Nationals (held once a year).
Cricket hogs all the limelight & hence the viewership for other sports is quite low. Hence, a new audience needs to be cultivated which makes such leagues a long term project. Hence, the city franchise model which seeks immediate profits is redundant.
These leagues lack a balance between duration & format. For example, India's football league structure is a mess of two different leagues out of in sync with each other & are a 3-4 month affair. This is a very short duration for a sport like football.
Many of them have also tied up with dubious organizers with little pedigree & lots of political connections.
Keeping all the stakeholders' vis a vis the players, federation, audience, owners & broadcasters in mind, a jointly owned league (which can be free from the red-tapism of the federation) can be formulated. The PKL & the NBA are some great examples of this approach. Such leagues can provide a viable avenue for financial freedom for athletes, attract foreign coaches & players, garner public interest in other sports & most importantly, provide athletes with a competitive platform to thrive on. We are already seeing one such league in the stated avatar in Volleyball!
IMPETUS TO STUDENT SPORTS
Source: India Today
India's current economic situation is such that spending billions on sports infrastructure in a country where millions are below the poverty line will always be a pipe dream. What can be done is rather encouraging competitive sports at the school & college level.
Additional grants & concessions can be provided to schools & colleges which send a good number of students to Khelo India Games & the state and nationals.
Increase sports quota with additional subsidies on education to show a value proposition to Indian parents to discourage active participation in Sports.
Create Khelo India games for every state.
This will build a culture of sports from the ground up.
PARTING THOUGHTS
The potential has always been there in Indian sports. Government initiatives like Khelo India & TOPS are both well-intentioned and well-executed. Recent performances on the field will have gone a long way in breaking those psychological barriers. The rejuvenation of Indian hockey, India's tryst with athletics gold, Deepak Punia's heartbreak and the ugly side of glory in Vinesh Phogat's case reveal the many shades & hues of Indian sports in all its dark & gold glory. One thing is certain: Indian athletes can do it on the big stage. Can Indian Society, the Indian Government and the Indian policymakers do it? Tomorrow will live to tell his tale.
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