The Tokyo Olympics have just been over! Though India had no graceful track record on the world’s largest sporting meet, India has done something better this year as it has bagged the maximum number of medals in an Olympic game so far. However, the Tokyo Olympics has something special as Neeraj Chopra won the first-ever Gold Medal in individual athletic performance. No Indian athlete had ever won a gold medal in the Olympics before Neeraj Chopra. Additionally, some other participants also won medals in individual and team events. Overall, one can conclude that India has done better than ever before in the Olympics.
Now, the question is, ‘Are we happy?’ Someone else would ask “Can’t India do better than what the players did?” These questions are not easy to answer! The answers may need deep and real-time analysis. Here, one must say that the country has a population of over 1.3 billion and therefore we may have enough potential to find better players and athletes that would compete with the topmost players from various countries.
Yes, India has the potential to find world-class players and athletes that can prove their worth not only in the Olympic Games but in some other platforms that are held every year in various parts of the globe. Actually, the country requires a robust national sports policy that can continue all the year-round to find the possible talents from the grassroots level of the country. Remember, this should continue timelessly keeping the best international sports competitions in mind. Finding talents should never be the only thing that the policy should aim at. Instead, it should focus on grooming them so that they can get themselves ready for the Olympic Games nearly 10 years later.
If you see the policies of the most successful countries in these sporting events, then you can find that they spend the best resources just to find out the most potential sporting talents in the various events, work hard on them, and then get them prepared for performing in the most amazing manner. You may find some amazing athletes from various countries who have won more than 10 gold medals in consecutive Olympic Games. These talents are not built in a day or two. They take relentless hard work and superior training to prepare them.
Again the question arises, Can India do it?’ This time the answer to this question is not difficult. Yes, India can also do this. The only thing India needs is a robust national sports policy, a powerful committee of non-political people, support from the central and state governments. The support should be in the form of funds and infrastructure. The committee should have the power of doing everything that is required to prepare a strong team of sporting professionals who can certainly perform well on international platforms. The committee should have the freedom to plan things well and get them approved by the government. They can even suggest hiring better coaches from other countries who can prepare the Indian players well.
Nothing is impossible for India as it has proved its strong willpower in various other areas. As far as sporting events are concerned, it needs to develop strong willpower here as well. When it comes to funding for those preparations, the government can ask the larger corporate companies to come up with their contributions. India can even ask for international investments from the well-settled NRIs that are operating from other parts of the world.
Things are never difficult as many countries have worked hard on these areas and have succeeded as well. If it was possible for them, then why would it be difficult for India? The fact is India is only a few yards away from making history in the International sporting arena. The day the governments would realize that things would change faster.
