Domestic sports leagues won't help India win at world stage — Group M's Vinit Karnik

There is a lack of clarity when it comes to what defines a sport in our country. Is it about monetizing the game, or is it being competitive and trying to win medals at the championships? Lack of having a clear vision is what smothers an emerging sport or any sport for that matter.

Having leagues is well and good when it comes to team sports. But when it is an individual sport, then there needs to be a more direct focus on the individual athletes who have the potential to make it to the very top. That is where the Sports Ministry plays a massive role. Just like in Cricket, there needs to be a clear road map for athletes to follow. Leagues do help in bringing out the competitiveness in athletes from a very young age, but that alone isn’t sufficient.

At the recent ET Panache panel discussions, five esteemed guests spoke about the current health of sports in India. “It has to happen at a government level and also at the private-promoter level,” argued Group M’s Vinit Karnik. “The ideal mix, to me, would be a private-public partnership (PPP) model, which is happening today. Kabaddi is a great example of a PPP, so it is ISL. If that is the starting point of an ecosystem being developed, I think a lot of structuring needs to be done at the level of the federations. The government and corporate sector have to come together in sketching their vision for that particular sport,” he said at the recent ET Panache Dialogues.

And there needs to be a strong support staff behind the players as well. A lot of emphases have to go into the nutrition, the recovery processes, and funding of the players for the equipment, etc. The elite athletes have strong backroom staff supporting them every step of the way.