The sports ecosystem in India is of poor quality inspite of measures taken by the government.Lack of sponsors,no world class infrastructure and government apathy results in poor performance of our Athletes in the international events.
Cricket is the most popular sport followed by Tennis and Hockey.Rest are just ignored and considered like a leisure sport.
Sports as a profession is largely condemned. Education is considered a pre-requisite to attain success and gateway to successful careers.
Sports is barely given any importance in schools and occupies a very small part of the school syllabus.Weightage given to education is so high that Physical Education is literally squeezed in the school timetable.In the choice given between the Education and Sports the former always wins.Well the choice given is always a formality.
Have you ever thought about this ?
We have long coastlines yet we have no culture of surfing or deep-sea diving. Indian beaches have more people coming there for picnics and sand castles than swimming hence it’s not maintained the way it should be.We have snow-clad mountains, but very few take up skiing.Most things are considered as leisure activities.
Life of a sportsmen is presented more like a struggle and less of his achievement. A profession that guarantees financial safety is what is discussed in most homes.
Most companies who provide educational allowance is strictly for school education and none of them encourage sports or arts specifically.
The costs of equipments and other facilities can be very high for middle class families that rules out the under privileged fully.A small example if you consider sports then comes protein supplements which are mostly imported and could be expensive for our players in comparison to their own.
Our players do not get to participate in all competitions just a few selected ones as the registration and travel costs are high.
Multinationals only sponsor famous sports rest are for the government to fund.
How can we forget “Politics” it has dominated almost all spheres of Indian sports. Discrimination on the basis of region at the time of selection is prevalent to all sports including cricket.
Nothing will change until we change our attitude. For these sports to attract sponsorship and private funding we need to promote them from school level.It should be given equal importance like academics.Schools need to adopt the holistic approach for the wellbeing of their children.When we start to acknowledge and appreciate is when we will see further change in the system.Transparency must be brought in the selection procedure. Government should reward deserving players with jobs and remuneration.
There are very few universities which provide sports quota in the higher eduction. Similar reservations must be made in universities too.
A state-level gold medal winner in athletics gets far less coverage in the media than a student scoring the first rank in boards or some competitive exam.
A player sweats himself like any other academic professional and his dedication should be acknowledged and respected not ignored by the nation.
Blessmesai 
Nicley written
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