Despite being home to a population of 1.5 billion, India continues to struggle to win medals in the world of sports. We have been seeing this in the ongoing Paris Olympics. This situation raises questions, especially when compared to countries like the United States, China, and France which consistently secure top spots in the medal tally. The US has won 43 medals, France is at 36 and China is at 30 while India’s medal tally stands at 3.
Sunil Chhetri, former captain of the Indian football team, has shed light on why India falls short in the medal race despite its vast pool of potential talent.
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In a podcast aired last month, Chhetri addressed the misconception that India’s population should naturally translate to Olympic success. He argued that the issue isn’t a lack of talent but rather the failure to identify and nurture it. He highlighted that countries excelling in the Olympics have superior systems in place for developing their athletes.
“We are not able to identify and nurture the talent of 1.5 billion people,” he said.
Sunil Chhetri emphasized that India has no shortage of talent. He illustrated this with the example of a five-year-old in Andaman who might have a natural aptitude for sports like football, javelin throw, or cricket but remains undiscovered and ends up in unrelated professions.
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“When people say, ‘talent ki kami nahi hai hamari country mei’ (there is no dearth of talent in our country), it is 100% right,” he said.
However, without proper identification and nurturing, this talent goes to waste.
“In identifying the talent and nurturing the talent at the right time and with the right procedure, we are way behind. And I don’t care if people want to kill me for this; this is the reality,” he concluded.
Here’s a video of him saying this:
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To remedy this situation, India needs to develop robust systems for talent identification and nurturing from a young age. This includes investing in grassroots sports programs, improving infrastructure, and providing adequate training facilities and support for aspiring athletes.
If India wants more medals, she needs to value and support sports like other nations.