India is the second most populous nation on earth with an estimated 1.366 billion people. Moreover,
they rank fifth among nations with the highest nominal GDPs with $2.87 trillion dollars. But despite their
vast supply of people and influx of money, India just can’t quite seem to cut it on the biggest of stages
sporting wise as compared with their fellow populated and rich colleagues. As by the end of the 2021
Olympics, India rank 56 th in the all-time Summer Olympics table, behind the likes of Ethiopia, Estonia and
Belarus and only clinching their 1 st gold medal since 2008. So what gives for India? What exactly is
stopping them from challenging the likes of Russia, the US and China in the medals table year in year out
when on the face of it, they have the capabilities of doing so. In honor of their 75 th birthday as a nation,
let’s find out.
Economic Inequalities
Perhaps the biggest reason, in my opinion, India, in relation to its size and economy has one of the most
unequal income distribution across the world. This adds a whole new layer of context to their GDP
statistic because all that money being generated counts for little as it benefits a rich minority of the
population. India boast a Gini coefficient of close to 0.5 (only Brazil register a more unequal distribution
of income with 0.53 out of the top 10 GDPs) with the top 10% of their population holding a whopping
77% of the nation’s total wealth. With regions such as Uttar Pradesh and Assam hosting 30% of people
below the poverty line then of course India will underperform on the sporting scene. Sports simply has
to take a back seat when basic needs aren’t even a guarantee in one’s life. Furthermore, with so many
people suffering financially, the chances of them competing in certain sports that require the purchasing
of expensive equipment, are next to none. This is none more indicative than with the revelations of
India’s last gold medalist before the 2021 Olympics, Abhinav Bindra, who admitted that his success came
from his father building a world-class shooting range with a swimming pool and gym, which led him to
take gold in men’s 10-meter air rifle competition. Bindra is obviously talented but it was his financial
status that allowed it to be nurtured. Unfortunately for most Indians, they do not have the money to
nurture their talent, leaving them to waste.
Cricket and Kabaddi
Cricket is by far and away the most popular sport in India and this is largely thanks to British colonialists
exporting the sport to the region as well as India’s unlikely victory at the 1983 Cricket World Cup. This
has led to mass government funding which has resulted in proper infrastructure readily available for
people across the largely economically unequal nation as well as the eventual creation of the lucrative
Indian Premier League which earns around $6.3 billion annually. This has resulted in India being one of
the most powerful nations across the world in cricket but this has largely hindered them in the context
of the Olympics. Despite cricket being one of the most popular sports worldwide with it being played in
125 countries worldwide. It is not an Olympic sport and with relative good reason. Despite what the
numbers suggest, cricket is a sport highly concentrated among a small number of nations, largely
commonwealth. There are only 12 test match playing nations worldwide and with the test match format
regarded as the highest level then there is a case to say that the sport is not genuinely spread across the
world for it to be considered by the Olympics committee. Moreover, cricket’s popularity has hindered
their performance in other fairly popular sports like hockey and football. The Indian football team have
never qualified for the World Cup and the hockey team although once successful, have never clinched
gold at the Olympics since 1980, 3 years before India’s cricket World Cup victory that changed their
sporting landscape. This case is similar but to a much smaller degree with Kabaddi. A form of tag, the
sport is quite popular worldwide but is heavily concentrated among Eastern Asian states, in fact there
are only 47 nations that officially have a Kabaddi national team. Obviously, with so little nations playing
the sport there is no way it would be brought into the Olympics and provide a source of medals for the
nation. Which is a shame because like cricket, India dominates the sport. In short, along with their
economic inequalities that restrict many of their population from nurturing their sporting talent, the
largely tunnel like approach the nation has towards sports like cricket, which aren’t even Olympic sports,
is what ultimately hinders the nation from reaching its potential heights in sports biggest stage.
Conclusion
Despite all this, there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Modi’s government has been funneling money
into Indian sport at grass-root level as well as allowing private ventures to step in and help with the
training of athletes. Bindra himself has noticed substantial improvement stating that participation in
shooting nationals have increased from 200-20,000. Furthermore, their 127 member delegation for this
Olympics is the largest the country has ever provided proving the presence of growth with such
improvements off the field slowly finding their way on it with their recent performances in Tokyo being
statistically their best showing at the Olympics ever with 7 medals collected, most notably 1 gold
brought home by Neeraj Chopra after a 13 year wait. Add all this to the ICC’s push to include cricket for
the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and there is reason for optimism among young Indian fans. However,
they still have a long way to go, especially in terms of narrowing their inequality if they want to compete
with the likes of China and the US where in all honesty, they truly belong. Maybe they need something
monumental like hosting an Olympics which may force improved infrastructure that may help bridge the
inequality or a monumental sporting achievement in a current Olympic sport that may shift public
interest like with javelin, or maybe both but at the very least the country has taken their first steps
forward in a long journey.
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