[how_you_doing]

Today history was created. In the 72-year history of Asian games, so far India has already got their highest number of gold and highest number of medals. There are good chances with 4 more days left, India will cross 25 gold medals and 100 total medals finishing 4th in Asian games.

It seems India is finally coming closer to South Korea and Japan's "group" and we should target to overtake them in the next 12 years. We should be able to get into the Top 10 in the Olympics too in this time frame (we need around 10 Golds in the Olympics to be in the Top 10 which is doable with our 6 main sports)

[whencut86]

The Khelo India initiatives has extended even to small villages and towns now. These results are because of this initiative since it has a wider reach now since inception. Very heartening to see us win more medals in athletics particularly in running. It would be great if we can win medals in the international events in running and disprove the ACTN1 gene theory totally.

[Vinod_nair]

Just loving watching the Asian Games, how these youngster from small remote towns and villages have risen to achieve these amazing results for our Country.

Congratulations to all, and the support staff.

[jazzy]

While agree with the others' opinion that many of the contestants are from very remote villages and they are getting good opportunities now, the results reflect that. However, a few sports like badminton have become popular due to better facilities and better coaching, mostly in big cities. There are badminton courts in many of the apartments in cities now and there are many more in games arenas.

To become a sports powerhouse, we need to develop an athletics culture like more people should start running on a daily basis and also develop infra for others like swimming. These two make up for bulk of the medals in international sporting events.

[hdus001]

Where do we find video highlights of the games? I am very keen to see the China vs India women's doubles table tennis match that India won, but unable to find it on youtube.

[GTE]

If the parasites did not force themselves onto sports bodies our tally would be much much higher. Those creatures are only interested in what they can loot from the positions leaving the sportspersons with very little.

[deathwalkr]

Congrats to the amazing sportspeople for this great performance

But sadly, some state players here have already shifted allegiance to other states for alleged lack of support/encouragement by the government herer.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by GTE

If the parasites did not force themselves onto sports bodies our tally would be much much higher. Those creatures are only interested in what they can loot from the positions leaving the sportspersons with very little.

This is absolutely, 100% correct.

I've seen how a few athletes in a particular sport (not a very mainstream one) trained before heading for the games. The facilities are so badly mismanaged and the coaches are so damn clueless about modern coaching methods, it's a testament to the athletes that they even qualified!

And don't get me started on the administrators! Nepotism, shady political tricks, massive egos. These guys shouldn't be allowed anywhere near athletes, but they head the decision making bodies. All they do is mismanage.

The problem is not our athlete motivation or physical abilities (it never was), nor is it even a lack of funds anymore. It's the completely old and useless sports administrators, how they hang on to their posts for so long and appoint equally useless coaches who curry favor with them (and their overall political masters) and only know the age-old 'ragada' training methods, rather than selecting qualified coaches who understand modern and scientific coaching methods.

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by GTE

If the parasites did not force themselves onto sports bodies our tally would be much much higher. Those creatures are only interested in what they can loot from the positions leaving the sportspersons with very little.

Originally Posted by am1m

This is absolutely, 100% correct.

Problem is, ultimately everything is related to politics. Despite the advancement in sports as general and the increase in the medals tally over some years, truth is the athletes have won medals despite the system. The sporting bodies are still headed by the politician's or their chosen players from the sporting world. A Kalyan Choubay or someone like the great PT Usha can only do as much as they are allowed to and therein lies the tragedy. We all know what's happening in the arena of wrestling, the less said the better.


Major players have come out after the support from the private sector. Programs like Olympic Gold Quest have been instrumental in providing support to athletes over the years. It's the support from academies like Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy, which has been a constant supplier of top class badminton players, that has resulted in India being slowly becoming a badminton powerhouse.

The recent successes of the badminton players and the athletes have been the highlight of the very first order and major credit goes to the private academies. The grass root which is the domain of the government, still suffers badly just like it was before and no body cares.

In a recent age group athletics tournament in the national capital Delhi, the 100 meter state finals was run by a single boy !! All the other boys ran away after seeing the dope testing authorities showed up. The article below for reference :

https://indianexpress.com/article/sp...final-8957732/

We have crossed 100 medals and that is indeed commendable. The success of the 4x400 relay team is the most heartwarming. Of course, Neeraj Chopra is already a legend. I so wish that government focusses on the grass roots and not only on the ready players. Program like TOPS needs to be implemented with clear long term vision and not only short term goals.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

A Kalyan Choubay or someone like the great PT Usha can only do as much as they are allowed to and therein lies the tragedy.

Sometimes the ex-sportspersons themselves become a part of the system and behave as badly as the people who probably made them suffer when they were competitors. It's a tricky thing, getting sports administration right. But first, political involvement should stop at all levels. No one who is also a part of a government ministry or legislative body should also be heading a sport association. Pipe-dream, but that is the only way.

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

Major players have come out after the support from the private sector.

Private sector involvement is very welcome of course. But there are things only the government can do. Reach out across villages and small towns. Put in place the infrastructure for regional-level competitions and funnel the best among those into the national track.

I've seen this first-hand where a sport always had city participants for years because only 2-3 cities had the facilities or even the awareness of the sport. Saw the same set of competitors win nationally and then get trashed at the Asia level. Last few years, after the sport became an Olympic sport, the reach has moved to some tier-2 towns and already the small town boys are trashing the city boys! City administrator politics still ensures that some favoured city boys get advance notice of selection trials (imagine announcing a national selection camp with 2 days notice! How is a poor small-town competitor going to afford to travel to the city at such short notice? Take a flight costing 10k?!), but the gap is closing fast. Same thing happened with cricket, previously all our stars were from cities like Mumbai or Bangalore. But now the team is composed of the best from all over the country.

For the next 2-3 generations, if we focus on simply "spreading the net", expanding the reach of sports we want to focus on beyond the cities, we'll reap rewards for decades to come. No private entity will spend that kind of money without immediate returns. (Except probably the Tata Group, and they are already doing that.)