Declining Standards of Sports in India
Today it is an unfortunate but universal fact that while the athletes of the world are breaking and making new records almost every day, Indian athletes are sinking rapidly into the mud of mediocrity. Many reasons are given for this decline. They range from the paucity of funds to inadequate training facilities to substandard genetic quality of the players. Whatever may be the reason the truth is that our contingents time and again coming up with below-average performance. It is indeed a shame that little-known countries are able to give medal-winning performances in many major international events, while a country of 900 million people cannot even groom from amongst itself a medal-winning proposition. Each debacle of the country brings forth a tirade of criticism and the usual political platitudes. Such is their regularity that no one takes either the criticism or the platitudes seriously anymore. Every player and athlete expects to be rewarded for his below-standard performance. Similar is the case of the officials who are involved in the promotion of the sports. It is an open secret that extensive politicking and lobbying takes place to get a berth in the contingents going abroad. Sports in India have become a real ticket for many in the country and not a source of excellence.
