Choosing sports as a career option in India has many pitfalls.

This is because the gap between success and

failure is considerable. If you succeed, more often than not, there is no looking back. Winners are felicitated, champions
are put on a pedestal. Failures are ignored.
Worse, success often involves battling significant odds, sometimes even the system itself. It also requires
intensive and often expensive training, not easily available to every sportsperson.
Take the case of Olympian swimmer Sajan Prakash. HT reported that Prakash, the current national record
holder in the butterfly stroke with an under two-minute record and the only swimmer to represent India at the 2016 Rio
Olympics, is considering auctioning his medals to finance his training for the 2018 Asian Games. This is after he had to
personally sponsor his participation in international events in Dubai, Thailand and Singapore. One can only imagine the
helplessness felt by the athlete. What is puzzling is that Prakash has been nominated for the sports ministry’s Target
Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme but is yet to receive any financial assistance.
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His is not an isolated case. There is a general, and unfortunate, indifference towards many sportspersons.
Stories of how sportspersons are ill-treated and how talent is ignored do not reflect well on the sporting ambitions of any
nation. Add to this bureaucratic red tape which prevents timely distribution of financial incentives. Expecting
sportspersons to perform well in international arenas without backing them with world class facilities, training and
exposure is foolish.
Sports minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, an Olympic medallist himself, knows all these problems only too
well. He has taken a slew of positive measures since assuming office, holding forth the hope that sportspersons finally
have a friend in the ministry. The Khelo India programme, which will identify 1,000 promising sportspersons and provide
an annual scholarship of Rs 5 lakh for eight years, is an example of a shift in focus from infrastructure to the athlete. Mr
Rathore’s promise to professionalise sports management and offer round-the-clock monitoring and assistance to athletes
could bring about a positive change.
But the experiences of Prakash and others show how far we have to go before podium finishes become a
regular feature. The sports ministry’s new initiatives are encouraging but it is important that they are executed effectively
and swiftly.

ARINDAM DEY | AFP | Getty Images

Indian supporters of gymnast Dipa Karmakar perform prayers ahead of her performance at the Rio
Olympics. Karmakar was the first Indian female gymnast at the Olympics and finished fourth at the women's
vault gymnastics event.
India sure punches well below its weight when it comes to sports.
At every Olympic Games, rivals China and Russia walk away with multiple gold medals. For fans in
India—one of the world's most populous nations and fastest growing economies—the event is an exercise in
despair.
India has managed just one gold medal since 1980, when shooter Abhinav Bindra became the first
individual to win gold for his country at the 10 meter air rifle event in 2008. The country's previous gold medals,
eight between 1928-1980, were all in field hockey.
To put India's historic performance in context, Michael Phelps has won as many medals on his own as
Team India has managed since 1900.
Granted, the 2016 Games are still on-going. So far, badminton star P.V. Sindhu has won the silver
medal at the women's singles competition on Friday. Thursday saw Sakshi Malik take bronze at the 58kg
women's wrestling category, India's first medal at Rio.
Hopes were high running into the Rio Olympics after the country snagged six medals in London in
2012 and sent its largest ever contingent to this year's event. The shallow medals haul has, therefore, sparked
debate on the likely reasons.
 The nation boasts immense human diversity, with limbs and muscles of all sizes, so race or genetic
characteristics aren't a valid explanation, said Anirudh Krishna, professor at Duke University, and co-author of a
2008 paper called 'Why do some countries win more Olympic medals?'
High poverty levels aren't a sufficient reason either, seeing as other countries with low levels of per-
capita income, such as Kenya and Jamaica, consistently fare better, he added.
"India does not have a sports culture," explained Boria Majumdar, a leading Indian sports scholar
who's authored numerous books on the topic. Indian athletes who have achieved international success are
exceptions rather than products of the country's sports system, he said.
"Unless there is a synergized sports culture you will never win a string of medals. A fundamental
overhaul is needed and urgently so."
Indeed, education tends be the highest priority for the average Indian household instead of extra-
curricular activities such as sports. A popular Hindi saying roughly translates to "if you study hard you will live
like a king but if you play sports you will ruin your life."

JACK GUEZ | AFP | Getty Images

India's Sakshi Malik celebrates after winning against Kirghyzstan's Aisuluu Tynybekova on August 17,
2016, during the wrestling event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Malik won bronze, Russia’s Valeria Koblova's
took silver and Japan's Kaori Icho obtained gold.
"Indians, over the decades, have been mostly pre-occupied climbing the socio-economic ladder.
Consequently, the pool of talent created at the local community, school and university levels, leaves much to be
desired both in terms of size and quality," said Arun Navaratna, senior economist at Australia New Zealand
Bank (ANZ).
Moreover, there's little support for those who display athletic prowess.
"Scarce public investible resources have eluded sports.This is further compounded by misallocation,
lack of transparency, poor asset management and an absence of a framework for measuring impact of public
spending. This is unlikely to change, despite the government's best intentions," Navaratna said.
There are scholarships and endowments for athletes that guarantee a basic minimum standard of
living, but this system is fraught with bureaucratic red tape, political interference, conflicts of interest and
corruption, he noted.
Sporting associations itself are no strangers to scandals.
In 2012, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was suspended from the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) for electing leaders with pending criminal charges, forcing Indian athletes to compete at the
Sochi Winter Games under the IOC flag instead of the Indian banner. CNBC's calls and emails to the IOA went
unanswered.
Early this year, a National Sports Ethics Commission Bill was introduced in the Indian parliament in an
attempt to order to improve the overall integrity of sporting culture.
Some meanwhile blame the selection of Olympic sports itself.
"With the exception of hockey, Indian sport tends to be focused on events that are not included in the
Olympics, most importantly cricket," PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said in a June report.

Binge: Ask the Olympic athlete edition 12:15 PM ET Thu, 18 Aug 2016 | 01:01

But perhaps more than anything else, omnipresent inequality may be the driver behind national
underperformance.
"The root problem, as I see it, is one of limited and ineffective participation, arising from the difficulties
in gaining access to [serious sports training]," Krishna stated. "Much of the country's talent remains undetected;
it takes a degree of privilege to be a serious competitor."
South Korea, a country of only 50 million people, consistently ranks ahead of India because almost
every Korean knows what the Olympic Games are and has a chance to attend a high school, he noted.
For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there are several economic incentives for improving the nation's
Olympic record.
"Helping individuals advance to the limits of their potential in diverse arenas—including sports—is the
development strategy of the future," said Krishna, who noted India's performance in relation to its human
potential consistently ranks at the bottom of world rankings.
 Jamaica—a country that the World Bank calls one of the slowest growing in the developing world—
could serve for inspiration for Modi. Following heavy investment in organized and informal infrastructure for
athletics, it now prides itself on being home to the world's fastest man and woman this year.
While Modi's administration may be constrained on the expenditure front, it could certainly do more to
define a scheme and partially fund public-private partnerships for sports infrastructure and services, such as
coaching or event management, according to Navaratna.
Administering fiscal incentives would also help, such as tax exemptions for earnings from sports or
reduction in import duties on expensive sports equipment, he added.
"India needs to invest in the long term, not expecting miracles at the touch of a button," summed up
Krishna.