Mumbai: It may be surprising for a layman for whom sports is synonymous with cricket to believe India as the worst country at the Olympics this year as he still is living in a well-defined shell when it comes to sports in India. On the other hand, the same for a well read sports enthusiast will only confirm his doubt.
Apart from the experts who will agree with the revelation are the ones who work hard in their respective fields to be financially stable and for whom the front page of a newspaper is the sports page, perhaps because they once desired to be featured on this side of the world.
With a tally of one silver medal and one bronze medal, India officially finished 67th on the final medal tally. But the reading becomes much worse when the medal table is adjusted for population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Per person, India has the worst athletes on Earth. Ironically, this is also the country which has given the world legends like Dhyan Chand, Sachin Tendulkar and Sania Mirza among others.
According to economic analysis of per capita, with a population of more than 1,326,801,000 and just two medals, India naturally downgrades to the last position in the medal tally out of a total of 87 countries to win a medal at the 2016 Olympics, according to a report published in NZ Herald.
The country’s 2016 GDP of more than $US2 trillion, as per the International Monetary Fund, also places India in the 87th position when the medal tally is adjusted for total medals won and GDP.
However, a sigh of relief here could be that we did not come empty-handed. Out of a record 207 teams which participated in Rio, 120 returned without a medal to boast of until the next Olympics. Pakistan proved to be the biggest underperforming country not to win a single medal given its population of more than 192,826,000 people. Yes, according to per capita, Pakistan leads the overall medal tally table of 207 countries (including the refugee team) but only from the bottom.
It’s a pity to see the second most populous country sending in a contingent of only 119 athletes, which sadly also happens to be the largest ever by our nation at the Olympics. For reality to hit you, even out of 119 athletes, we could fetch only two medals. However, given the state of the sporting scenario in our country it is only commendable of our athletes who fight against all odds only to inspire another generation of athletes and in anticipation of a better sports management someday right from the grass-root level. When we talk of India as the worst sporting country, it only speaks volumes about the circus down under because of which the dedicated and hard-working athletes on a world platform suffer irreversible humiliation.
Thanks to the tech-savvy intellectuals today that reporting can be done from anywhere in just a matter of minutes. Everything right from the Indian officials alleged gate-crash into a barricaded area or taking selfies with exhausted players to some living it up in the Brazilian city surfaced or rather got exposed on a public platform while the athletes on the other side strive hard to qualify.
Rio was expected to be a turning point for India. Everyone waited in desperation for Olympics to unfold. Months ahead of the Rio Games, Indian sports officials vowed that the massive nation would turn around its long history of dismal Olympic results.
More so the head of the government’s sports authority, Injeti Srinivas, said he expected India to bring home anywhere from 10 to 14 medals.
“What happens on a particular day is something none of us can predict. But we should achieve this target,” Srinivas had said in a statement released in March.
India’s only individual Olympic gold medallist, shooter Abhinav Bindra, said he was fed up with apathetic officials, some of whom were unqualified for the job and were not being held accountable for a lack of success on the field.
“I won’t get angry and spoil my own health. It happens every time and that is the way it is. We need a complete overhaul of the system. We need more experts coming in. I have no problem with a politician if he can bring something to the table.” said Bindra to NDTV.
If the same continues without being probed into, it won’t be long until we declare our nation as a laughing stock in sporting history.