How Indian athletes came out of the shadow of cricket

In snatch, she lifted 88kg, her best in an international competition and 12kg above her nearest rival. In clean and jerk, his best lift was 113 kg, which was 16 kg more than his nearest rival. Overall, she lifted a Games record of 201 kg, 29 kg – more than half of her body weight – more than Mauritius silver medalist Roilya Ranivosova.

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Granted, there was a giant hole the size of China in the Commonwealth Games competition. But it is not everyday that an Indian athlete runs into such a rare place. The woman who achieved India’s record Olympic tally in Tokyo also won India’s first gold medal at the 2022 CWG.

Athletes like Mirabai are the confident, winning face of India. Celebrating 75 years of independence in 2022, the country is now a rising force in sports, be it cricket and hockey, or fencing, gymnastics and boxing. We have flag bearers in precision and mind games, in skill and strength games, in team sports and individual sports. India has won world titles and Grand Slams, produced champions and world No. Last year in Tokyo, India secured its highest position in the Olympics with seven medals. In a country ready to embrace the sport, Indian athletes are getting faster, higher, stronger.

on the shoulders of giants

Independent India’s Olympic journey began with the 1948 London Olympics, when the country sent a contingent of 79 (zero women) and won a gold medal in hockey. With stick magician Dhyan Chand leading the way, hockey was a sport that India dominated. Amsterdam Starting in 1928, India won 11 Olympic medals in hockey, eight of which were gold. Barcelona, ​​India’s only other Olympic medal from 1928 to 1992, came through the wrestler. KD Jadhav, who won the bronze medal in the 1952 Helsinki Games. Even today, with a total of 35 Olympic medals (30 since independence), India’s per capita medals is the worst at 0.03. (Source: Statista 2022)

Medals may have been rare but there were plenty of heroes to kindle the fire. The country’s first track star was Milkha Singh, who showed the world that Indians could compete at par on the world stage. At the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, he won 440 yard-dashes and became independent India’s first gold medalist at the Games. Two of India’s greatest athletes, Milkha Singh (Rome 1960) and PT Usha (Los Angeles 1984), finished fourth at the Olympics in those most heart-wrenching places – but their illustrious careers paved the way for generations to come .

In 1958, Wilson Jones won the World Billiards Championship and became the first world champion from India. Prakash Padukone’s artistry saw him become the first Indian to win the prestigious 1980 All-England Badminton Championships, one of the biggest titles in the sport (badminton was not on the Olympic roster at the time). In tennis, Krishnan (Ramanathan and son Ramesh) and Amritraj (Vijay and Anand) ensured that India got above their weight in a predominantly white game by reaching the Davis Cup final three times.

“The 1982 Asian Games brought some awareness about the sport among the middle class; There was live coverage on TV. Otherwise, our only sports hero, be it (Sunil) Gavaskar or (Tiger) Pataudi or Bishan Singh Bedi, was a cricketer,” recalls former badminton player Vimal Kumar, who coached the team when it won the Thomas Cup this May.

India, which won the Cricket World Cup in 1983, changed the sporting landscape. Hockey was already on the decline then, and with little outlet for sporting glory, India took the sport forward.

The Olympic medal race resumed in 1996, when wildcard entrant Leander Paes shook the tennis world order to win the bronze medal. Four years later, Karnam Malleswari became India’s first female medalist when she won a bronze medal in the women’s 69 kg weightlifting. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore proved India’s growing stature in shooting by winning a silver medal in double trap at Athens 2004. Outside the Olympics, Anju Bobby George put India on the athletics map by winning the country’s first medal at the World Athletics Championships. 2003 Quantum Leap in Paris. For more than 20 years, the Big 3 of Indian tennis – Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza – kept India in the Grand Slam hunt.

its worth waiting in gold

On August 11, 2008, Abhinav Bindra knocked down the last of the hurdles as he won India’s first individual gold medal at the Olympics. A fiery man, Bindra was a picture of peace as he nearly scored 10.8 in his last shot to win the 10m air rifle event. “Abhinav won the gold and it created the hope that we can do,” says Deepti Bopaiah of Go Sports Foundation, a non-profit organization founded the same year. Bindra was not the only winner in Beijing. Vijender Singh won the bronze, the country’s first medal in boxing, and Sushil Kumar took the tally to three medals with a bronze in wrestling.

After taking 61 years to win the first individual gold medal, it took another 13 years to win the second gold. Neeraj Chopra covered a distance of 87.58 meters with a javelin throw in his second attempt to win gold at the postponed Tokyo Games last year.

Adil Sumariwala, head of the Athletics Federation of India and a star sprinter in the 1970s and 80s, believes it was “the best thing that Indian athletics could do.” “Their success has also proved that the system and process we put in place has worked for the last 15 years,” says Sumariwala. “Whether you look at Hima Das or Neeraj, they are all products of the inter-district junior and sub-junior program (which has now come under the ambit of covering more than 500 districts). Proper planning and strategy will give you results.”

Be it governance, resources, opportunities, expertise or attitude, there has been a remarkable improvement in every change in the last 15 years. Indian athletes no longer carry the burden of despair. Now when you interview athletes they talk less about cricket who are cannibals in other sports, and more about their own goals.

Veteran coach Vimal Kumar, who has nurtured talent at Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, believes that apart from being icons in many sports, Indian athletes now get the required experience at the right age. “Athletes are traveling abroad at the age of 14-15, they are competing, being away from home, these things help a lot in giving confidence.”

Malleswari says, “If you compare it with the time when I was competing, Indian sport is as different as night and day. We didn’t have very good facilities, we used to practice barefoot. Only once we Went to the national camp, we would get those white canvas shoes. We used to wear the kits used by male wrestlers. If you got hurt in the game, there was zero support or expertise.”

International competitions were few and far between. Sumariwala trained on mud or grass tracks, but had to run on synthetic tracks at the international level. In addition to multi-sport events, he had to fund his travels and training abroad. “Once upon a time, we used to have a track coach, he used to coach from 100m to 5000m. We had a coach for the high jump, triple jump and long jump, pole vault and then a throw coach.”

Nowadays, through the Sports Authority of India, government initiatives like TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme established in 2014), federations and private foundations, athletes are taken care of throughout the year.

While cricket still remains a priority for the corporate sector, funds have also been channeled into other sports through Corporate Social Responsibility, which was made mandatory in April 2014. “CSR is only two per cent of the entire amount that comes into play, but at least it is coming and I am sure it could be 10-15 per cent in the next decade.”

According to a June 2022 study, the sports industry is expected to reach $100 billion by 2027. The Indian sports budget was increased to Rs 3062.60 crore in 2022, a non-Olympic year. While Olympic TV coverage was once too precarious, the recently concluded 2022 CWG was broadcast on multiple platforms with live streams for nearly every game, including the Lawn Bowl.

paradigm shift

One of the biggest victories of Indian sports has been the success of women and para-athletes. They have had to fight very different battles on many fronts, but they rarely back down.

Malleswari broke the Olympic barrier at the turn of the century, and in the last three Games, India’s female athletes have helped move up the medal tally. In Rio, in 2016, India’s only two medals were won by women – a silver by PV Sindhu and a bronze by Sakshi Malik.

Bopaiah says, “Look at the sports that women are doing well in boxing, weightlifting, wrestling. They’ve broken every stereotype we have about women and strength and sports about what they should look like. They’re huge in it.” Creating a story of what a young girl can do today. No matter where you come from, if you are talented, and given an opportunity, you can achieve any height you desire. can do.”

Similar changes have taken place in para sports in the last five years. If the race to four medals at the Rio Games helped raise awareness, India matured in Tokyo. He won 19 medals including five gold, seven more than the cumulative of all previous editions. Javelin star Devendra Jhajharia won his third medal (two gold and one silver) and became the most medal-winning athlete from India at the Olympics or Paralympics.

“There was a time when a disabled person entered the playground, people would ask, ‘Why are you here? What will you do here?'” The first para-athlete to win the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honor, in March After making, Jhajharia told Mint Lounge. “Now people with disabilities are encouraged to play sports.”

road ahead

Despite progress, some familiar obstacles still exist, such as corporate apathy and union mismanagement. This year alone, the three major national federations – hockey, football and table tennis – were dissolved and put under the control of the COA (Committee of Administration). Vimal Kumar says, “I still think corporates talk big but still only involved in cricket. In badminton, we are world champions now, but BAI (Badminton Association of India) still has no sponsors Our athletes need that support and attention.”

Athletes don’t have access to resources until they win big titles. “We need a strong grassroots program to ensure that talent is channeled into the system,” says Malleswari, India’s first women’s world champion. “Right now, we have heroes in almost every game, what we lack is depth.”

But the fact that the country is currently in talks is already a cheer for the ‘Iron Lady’ of Indian sport.

“There was a time when expectations were so low; Just going to the Olympics was considered a big achievement,” she recalls. “Even our coaches didn’t have much faith. I went to the 1995 World Championships in Guangzhou, China and won a gold medal by defeating a Chinese girl. When I stepped on the podium, they didn’t have a tape for the national anthem. Our support staff never thought of bringing it along as no one expected us to win gold. I was standing on the podium and I myself sang the national anthem.”

From Malleswari’s podium finish in 1995 to Mirabai’s Birmingham 2022, the country has already come a long way. The torch has been lit.

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