The missing piece of the puzzle in indian sport

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games delivered on its promise of enthralling sports lovers from across the world, with a brilliant display of athletic performance, camaraderie, grit and perseverance.

However, the Indian sports fan was once again left pondering about the inconsistent performances from the Indian contingent.

Our performances at Paris 2024 dished out mixed results. The contingent secured one less medal in Paris 2024 as compared to Tokyo 2020, and both tallies continued to be in single digits.

Despite a substantial increase in public and private investment in Indian sport, we sent a smaller contingent of athletes to the Games in Paris, as compared to Tokyo.

Post Paris 2024, there was a familiar melee amongst Indian fans, with the same unanswered questions being asked at different forums.

The foremost being, “How can a country of 1.4 billion people win such few medals?”, with others questioning “How many years will it take India to finish in the top 10 of the Olympics?”

Current state of grassroots sports in India

Having followed the Olympics closely since Beijing 2008, in particular India’s performances, along with my experience of working in Indian sport over the past 14 years, it is clear to me that the sporting systems in place currently continue to fail our elite athletes performing on the world stage.

One cannot lay too much blame on the athletes – they are a product of the system. And despite the flaws and limitations of our system, they continue to outperform what should be expected of them.

My simple answer to all the questions and frustrations directed towards me after every Olympic Games is the same: focus on the grassroots.

This has long been and continues to be the missing piece of the puzzle in Indian sport.

Access to sport has been a huge challenge, not just for young people, but for adults and senior citizens alike. This is more prominent for those from marginalized backgrounds and disadvantaged socio-economic groups.

The channels to access sport, physical activity and play are limited, with educational institutions and community settings being the most viable. Schools in particular are recognized as good starting points to enable sporting access to students, especially since school enrolment has increased steadily in the past two decades.

However, physical education (PE) in schools continues to flounder, despite the National Education Policy 2020 mandating sports and PE to be at par with other school subjects.

The ASER 2022 report notes that only 4.3% primary schools and 31.3% upper primary schools have a dedicated PE teacher. In reality, even schools with dedicated PE teachers lack the resources and pedagogy to engage all students in regular PE programming.

More often than not, PE teachers are given odd jobs in schools, and only focus on sending school teams for various sports competitions.

Unless we achieve universal participation in sports in India, along with providing better quality grassroots sports programming, how can we expect an improvement in results in youth and elite sports?

Currently, India has a staggering 350+ million youth population between the ages of 15-29 years. Our talent pool for youth and elite sports comprises only a fraction of this number, as the majority does not have access to sport at the grassroots.

Those who do manage to gain access continue their climb up the ladder towards sporting excellence through sheer talent, perseverance and extraordinary self-belief, rather than through a well-oiled structure that provides access to, identifies and nurtures talent in a systematic manner.

Other than a few pockets across the country, a culture of sport is missing in India, especially at the grassroots. Sporting culture is a fluid concept that depends on a variety of factors and contexts. In my view, however, creating a supportive and conducive environment to encourage and enable everyone to participate in sport is the essence of building a sporting culture.

Solutions for the future

A lack of access to sport, poor systems to identify and nurture sporting talent and the dearth of a sporting culture, are the key issues plaguing grassroots sports in India.

So, what can be done to change our current course in Indian sports?

Firstly, we need to think long-term in all aspects of Indian sport, from grassroots to Olympic glory. Similar to other successful sporting nations, all decisions, planning and investments need to be aligned with a long-term strategy, with a minimum timeframe of 10 years.

This long-term strategy will require inputs, action and tracking of KPIs from a wide variety of stakeholders. Multi-stakeholder collaboration and decision-making will be imperative, something that has been very top-heavy up until now.

India’s sporting governance leaves a lot to be desired, from the functioning of sports federations to the utilization of public funds to the lack of safeguarding within sport.

Greater transparency, accountability and dynamism is required in the governance of sport, which should be led by sports professionals and ex-athletes with adequate training. Providing safe and conducive environments to participate and perform in sport is a key factor that sports governance in India must integrate on a priority basis.

The National Sports Development Code is a ready blueprint to put this into action but lacks the leadership to make bold changes.

Greater investment and funding at the grassroots is required to promote equitable and inclusive access to sport, physical activity and play, along with improving the standards of coaching and programming. This can start with children and youth, but should progress to adults and seniors, as they are key stakeholders who influence and encourage the participation of young people in sport.

These investments need to be driven by private and public stakeholders across all levels of governance and scales of business, and should not solely rely on CSR mechanisms.

Finally, research, advocacy and awareness about the positive benefits of sports participation is severely lacking in India. Contextual data and research into the current state of grassroots sports in India, along with collating the impact of existing interventions, needs to be given significance by investors, researchers and practitioners alike.

A variety of stakeholders need to be informed about the value of sport in an individual’s life, beyond becoming professional athletes and winning Olympic medals. A concerted effort needs to be made to shift mindsets and social norms around participation in sport, and communicate the physical, mental and social health and well-being benefits of well-designed and delivered sports programs.

The road ahead is a challenging one, which will need to be navigated with expert negotiation, leadership and empathy, in order to witness changes that will propel India towards truly becoming a sporting nation.

Suheil F. Tandon runs a social enterprise that works at the intersection of sport and social change in India.