Open House: What steps should govt take to push India in the top-10 of medal tally at 2024 Paris Olympics?

Govt should enhance budgetary allocation

Though our players have won the highest number of medals at Tokyo Olympics and have brought the lost glory to the nation, the overall performance is far from satisfactory considering the population size and potential of our country. At the onset, the Centre and states/ UTs are required to enhance their budgetary allocations to the sports to keep pace with infrastructure as presently existing in sports advanced countries. Secondly, all national sports organisations endowed with government support should be headed by distinguished sportspersons in their respective fields and not by any politicians to keep the sports away from dirty politics. The principle of ‘Catch them young’ needs to be adopted at schools levels so that sports talent and potential in children is recognised earlier and channelised through specialised training. Sports oriented schools and colleges with world class infrastructure and latest technology should be opened at each district level for providing all the facilities free of cost to the probables selected purely on merit only. Frequent international tours are required to be held for all national level players in every sports field to gain exposure and experience needed to be competitive to face international tournaments.

Jagdish Chander

Create infra, promote media coverage

The historic performance of India at Tokyo Olympics has made the nation proud. While bagging seven medals and missing a few more by narrow margins, in the absence of an integral sports policy is no small achievement by any measure, yet we have to increase our appetite. We are a nation with 1.35 billion population but placed at 48th position in this tournament. A consistent monetary support and facilitation should be guaranteed to players during training as well as participation at various national and international high pressure sporting events. Besides, an adequate provision for creation of proper infrastructure, promoting media attention and creating mass spectators by incentivising corporate sponsorship is utmost essential. Nothing is more significant than nation’ pride. The governments must join to formulate a transparent and comprehensive National Sports Policy. World class Centres of Excellence be developed in different parts of the country for sportspersons to acquire modern technical skills of the game. Alongside, career planning of players of repute ought to be ensured so that they fully concentrate on sports to improve our medal tally. In our vast nation, there is no dearth of skill and will to perform and Tokyo 2020 Olympics has provided us an excellent ray of hope. We must accelerate the momentum to glorify our position among top-10 in 2024 Paris Olympics as well as other sporting line- ups of global fame.

Nirmaljit Singh Chatrath

Future holds good for the country

Yes. The union and state governments are leaving no stone unturned to boost the sentiments of the youth towards various games. The implementation of “Khelo India” project has proved to be a big success in motivating the youth towards sports. Athletes from Haryana have proved their mettle in the games. Similarly, in badminton, boxing, polo, shooting players have proved their talent. The honour, rewards, cash incentives announced to the Olympic Players after returning back will certainly boost the youth to prove their talent, especially to youngsters residing in rural and remote areas. The need of time is to boost the sentiments of the youths in rural areas by providing cash incentives, talented coaches, proper items for games and more focus on inter district, district, inter-state, state, and national competitions in rural areas. As the focus of youths towards games will certainly pave way towards sideling drugs and their keen interest towards games. If all goes well Indian’s will certainly prove their talent in 2024 Olympics and certainly win more medals then expectation if the focus of the Union and State Government remain on boosting various sports games.

Rajat Kumar Mohindru

Hike budget, create better facilities

Since the inception of the Olympic Games in 1894, with two misses during world wars, India has got just 34 odd medals whereas the US has got over 2600 medals. To even think that India can advance to top ten positions in the next Olympic is like living in a fool’s paradise and a pipe dream. In the Tokyo Olympics, India stood at 48th position with one gold, two silver and four bronze medals. It is nearly impossible that India will come in top ten positions. To be honest, we Indians lack sporting culture. The rich and super rich hardly take any interest in sports except shooting or golf. Only the middle and lower middle class youth take interest in different games and that too because they feel they will get government jobs to help their families. The government ministers and functionaries hardly talk any interest in sports. Navin Patnaik, CM, Odisha, is an exception here. The Centre slashed the budget for education and sports by Rs 230 crore this fiscal. It is only 0.01 % of the budget. Countries like the US, China, Japan and European countries invest huge heavily in their sportsmen and sports. That is why they are on the top of the table-medal wise. We need to invest likewise on human resources to our youth and also well equipped training centres. That is how we will come in top ten positions in Olympics.

Dr JS Wadhwa

No dearth of talent in the country

Indian players made the country proud by their performances at Tokyo Olympics by winning gold, silver and bronze and brought laurels to the nation. The central and state governments announced crores of rupees for the players and the result is that they start enjoying their luxuries and forget about their next Olympic mission. Money should be kept to enhance their performances, their costly kits. There is no dearth of talent in the country. Athletes who brought laurels for the nation are languishing in poverty. They have to earn for their livelihood and not focusing on their games and sometimes demoralise. Mere announcing of cash prizes doesn’t help. Nurturing talent at micro level, training and international exposure is must. Proper equipments and proper infrastructure for training is must. Best coaches and high calibre physical education teachers should be employed at school level. Big companies should also come forward to sponsor an athlete. There should be grit and determination to win. It will overcome all challenges and we are fully hopeful about more medals in the next Olympics.

Shashi Kiran

PPP model reason for good performance

India capped off its best-ever performance in the Olympics 2020 with a haul of seven medals, including a gold. Indian Men’s hockey team finally ended their quest to earn an Olympic medal in Tokyo, as the young side claimed a bronze medal, defeating Germany in a tense battle. The manner, in which the players carried themselves on the pitch, shows us that the best of Indian hockey is yet to come. Public/private partnership is responsible for India’s seven medals and India’s medal quest was supported by corporates. The Target Olympic Podium Scheme or TOPS was launched in 2014 under the aegis of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The chief objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance and other help to athletes in their pursuit of medals in the Olympics and other international sporting events. Under this scheme, athletes and sportspersons will get customised training from top coaches at modern and well-equipped sports facilities and institutions. The sportspersons are also given assistance for buying sport-specific equipment. They are also provided with help in participating in international sporting events and also for the appointment of their support staff such as physiotherapists, sports psychologists, physical trainers, etc. All these efforts by government would pave a way towards biggest win in upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.

Parampreet Kaur

Long-term strategy needed to bag medals

Change mindset towards sports

India has scripted history in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics winning seven medals, including its first-ever gold in athletics and a bronze in men’s hockey after a long hiatus that marks the resurgence in popularity of our national game. But as a fast developing country, India’s low world ranking is unfortunate. Indians are more interested in cricket than other sports as it has been greatly popularised by the BCCI, the mainstream media and advertisement coverage. After the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Central Government took many noble initiatives under the aegis of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to promote youth participation in other games at all levels. India has a tremendous sports potential that needs be channelised through proper planning, scouting and training. The government should enhance its budgetary allocation, which at present is only 0.01 per cent of the GDP, to provide sophisticated infrastructure and technology, training by qualified professional coaches, nutritious diet, proper medical assistance, clothing, etc. Change of conservative mindset and attitude towards sports, transparent and unbiased selection process, respectable job avenues, efficient sports management, patronisation by private players of newer sports disciplines apart from cricket and emphasis on sporting excellence or sporting nationalism will make India a popular sporting nation. Increased coverage of sports events on television and their free and easy access will give a boost to sports industry. It will create a mass movement on sports and impact the country’s socio-economic development.

Tajpreet S Kang

We must Make sports a compulsory subject

Our sportspersons have done the country proud by earning the biggest-ever haul of seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Despite its excellent economic and demographic profile, India finished 48th in the final tally. There are reasons galore for this poor world ranking. We have no dearth of sports talent in the country but its full potential is not recognised and detected. Despite the Central and state governments’ various programmes and schemes, we are not recognised as sports nation. The poor performance in major sports events can be attributed to political, administrative and organisational apathy and incompetence, corruption and nepotism. Moreover, we lack a synergised sports culture. Sporting as a profession is not accepted by society though the trend is gradually undergoing a transformation. Parents motivate their children to climb the social ladder through academics and sports are regarded as an “extra-curricular activities”. Sports should be a compulsory subject in the school and college curriculum.

DS Kang

QUESTION

With over 100 trains cancelled and a large number of people stranded in Jammu due to the farmers’ indefinite protest in Jalandhar, shouldn’t the farmers think of alternative ways to air their dissent without making the public suffer?

Suggestions in not more than 200 words can be sent to jalandhardesk@tribunemail.com by Thursday (August 26)