India a country of 1 billion has been a perennial underdog at the international sporting arena. India’s abysmal record at the Olympics is the diamond in our crown of sporting shame. The reason is beautifully captured in the lines above. The problem is not the lack of talent but the lack of opportunity.

One organization is trying to challenge the status quo; Aata Odanata (Kannada for Sports and Bonding) is a Karnataka based non-governmental organization that aims to empower socio-economically challenged, yet talented and spirited youngsters through sports.

Their mission is to take sports to kids in rural schools, in city slums, in obscure orphanages. They believe kids with talent and a desire to excel but with no facilities, no funds and no mentoring. Kids who should be given that one chance.

Below is a chat with their director Sheetal, Founder & Director:

IAL: How does Aata Odanata plan to achieve your mission?
AO: We will work to identify and nurture talent through sponsored training and mentoring. We will collaborate with other NGOs to create sports opportunities for special kids. We hope to bring in recognized sportspersons and coaches to mentor and train the target talent pool.

Our Mission is to encourage under privileged children to learn and play different sports and to identify and support sporting talent.

IAL: Why do you think sports plays an important role in a child’s development?
AO: We at AO believe that sports is a powerful catalyst. Sports can help develop an individual mentally, physically, psychologically and socially. However, this is just the delightful benefit of AO’s main mission which is to marry talent and opportunity. We believe that providing the right opportunity will bring out the best in the kids whose talent remains undiscovered and undeveloped because of their circumstances.

IAL: How do you intend to use Olympic sports in your program? (Any Olympic sport including athletics is fine)
AO: We are not specifically promoting any particular sport at AO. We aim to help children broaden their horizons in the sporting disciplines of their choice. This will include sporting disciplines from Olympics as well. Convergence with the PT Usha school of athletics, with athletic coaches at the district and taluk level and exposure to competition at higher levels is already within the ambit of AO’s activities, leading to direct talent detection and development.

IAL: How does AO help the child who are part of the program?
AO: We aim to help as many children as possible to realise their dream in whatever way we can. We spot talent through local events, school competitions and point them in the direction of training or sponsor such training where required. Facilitating participation in the Sports Authority of India trials is an example.

IAL: How can readers of the post help you?
AO: The readers can help us in by donations. They can sponsor specific events/ sports or kids. Trophies, Event running costs, sports kits, or cost of training. They can help by connecting AO to coaches and ex-sportspersons. They can even join us as volunteers at our different events. They can come out to coach the kids at special camps if they have expertise in any sport.

Or they can just come and play with the kids, help them learn and watch them win.

“Be a sport. Become an AO Buddy Today”

More deatils on the their website or email them at aata.odanaata@gmail.com

We will rate every sport on a scale from -3 to 3. A positive score will indicate a step forward and a negative one will point to a regression. The absolute value will be a measure of the quantum.

So here we go sport by sport in alphabetical order:

ARCHERY

Positives:
Indian men won gold medal in the men’s recurve team event in the World Cup held in Antalya, Turkey.

Negatives:
The disappointment of the Olympics. A Lot was expected of the women’s team and of Dola Banerjee – the winner of the World Cup in 2007. But nobody delivered on the promise. We didn’t even contend for a medal. Another story of under achievement.

Verdict:
Archery has tantalized us with its medal winning potential for too long now. Time and again it promises a lot and then leaves Indian fans heartbroken. The sport has a decent talent identification program and generally the archers are provided with world class coaching and infrastructure and given sufficient international exposure. If only we could do something about their mental strength and nerves at the big events.

Score:
0

ATHLETICS

Positives:
The Indians topped the medals tally in the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha in February ahead of China and did well in the three Asian Grand Prix events in June.
The federation and the govt improved its act – there was a training-cum-competition trip of England before the Olympics and a few athletes were sent to train abroad.

Negatives:
A hugely disappointing Olympics where almost instead of going swifter, higher and stronger our athletes ended up being slower, lower and weaker. The selection criterion remains a joke with the authorities’ intent on inflating the size of the squad. The Olympics also signalled the end for our lone world class athlete – Anju Bobby George.

Doping and age violations became even more rampant at junior and sub-junior levels.

Verdict:
We are totally stuck in a time warp – happy to win medals at inconsequential events and send the largest contingent amongst the various sports to the Olympics. The consistency of our underperformance at the Olympics is extremely depressing. There isn’t a single athlete coming through the ranks who we can get excited about. This sport needs a major over haul.

Score:
-1

BADMINTON

Positives:
The super success of Saina Nehwal who is still a teenager. She missed an Olympic medal by a whisker and has improved by leaps and bounds since then.

Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand form a two man support system for all aspiring badminton players.

India has 4 players in the top 50 on the men’s side including Chetan Anand at 15.

Negatives:
The cancellation of national level tournaments, the passport fiascos and the haphazard arrangement of training camps.

Verdict:
We have the talent and we are making it count to some extent. But we could really do with more exposure and better support systems.

Score:
1.5

BOXING

Positives:
An Olympic medal and two near misses.

4 medals at the AIBA boxing World Cup.

World Championship Gold medals for Mary Kom (women) and Thakchom Singh (junior men).

A much better support system and hopefully things are getting even better – thanks to Bhiwani and the Mittal Trust.

Negatives:
In spite of all the glory and the surge in popularity of the boxers’ post the Olympics, things are back to normal – there was no reception for the World cup squad which came home with 4 medals

Verdict:
The talent was always there. Now we have started to believe in ourselves. The depth is also very good. The next Olympics could be even better.

Score:
2

HOCKEY

Positives:
KPS Gill was finally sacked.

The emergence of a talented drag flicker in Diwakar Ram.

A movie called Chak De which made some much needed attention to the sport.

Negatives:
We missed the Olympics.

We still have an ad-hoc committee and a caretaker coach.

Verdict:
We have reached a nadir. And we have stayed there. Full stop.

Score:
-3

SHOOTING

Positives:
Abhinav Bindra wins an Olympic gold.

Gagan Narang breaks two world records.

Ronjon Sodhi wins the World Cup and equals a world record.

Negatives:
Other then Bindra and Narang all the other shooters stunk at the Olympics.

The acute shortage of equipment, practise pellets, infrastructure and support systems continues.

Verdict:
The talent has always been there but in spite of an Olympic gold life has not changed for the shooters. Is Bindra merely an exception or do we have capability to produce more champions – the jury is still out on this.

Score:
1

TENNIS

Positives:
The emergence of Somdev Dev Varman. Barely six months after turning professional he is already India’s highest ranked player at world number 204.

Leander Paes’ becoming a vice president of Bengal Tennis. We shouldn’t read too much into this but it at least creates hope.

The emergence of Yuki Bhambhri. Another one who gives us hope for the future.

Negatives:
The open infighting in the Davis Cup team.

The dismal year for Sania Mirza. Also disappointing years for the other women’s players.

Failure to win a medal at the Olympics. It’s not the failure which stinks – it’s the fact that Paes and Bhupathi made every effort to not be well prepared.

Failure to make the World group in the Davis Cup once again.

The AITA at its worst. They announced the Indian Tennis League – which was modelled on the IPL but then totally forgot about it. They also picked up a fight with the guys running Apollo’s Mission Grand Slam 2018 program.

Verdict:
Tennis is extremely popular in the country - there are lots of enthusiastic kids playing it, parents are usually encouraging and there is no shortage of fans willing to cheer and corporates willing to fund the game. But hardly any good players are coming through. We have a big problem with our system and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

Score:
0

WEIGHTLIFTING

Positives:
Absolutely nothing.

Negatives:
Once a medal generating sport, women’s weightlifting slipped a little more in 2008, with our weightlifters falling a little further off the international pace.

The doping controversies.

The selection controversies.

Verdict:
We are going from bad to worse and to add to it are also doing it disgracefully and with shame.

Score:
-1.5

WRESTLING

Positives:
The bronze medal won by Sushil Kumar at the Olympics.

A decent performance at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

The emergence of Indian stars in professional wrestling like the WWE – the likes of the Great Khali and Sanjoy Dutt. At least it motivates young kids to take up the sport.

As compared to the previous Olympics, Indian wrestlers were trianed by better foreign coaches and were given more international exposure.

Negatives:
We are not making the Olympic success count. Absolutely nothing has been done to take advantage of the increased interest in the sport.

Verdict:
The sport is extremely popular in certain pockets of the country and there is no shortage of talent. In fact the sport continues to prosper, in spite of govt and corporate apathy, because of its huge popularity in these regions. And now Sushil Kumar has shown all the budding wrestlers that we can be true world beaters. This is a great time to harness this surging potential and make Olympic medals a regular feature. Sadly the govt hasn’t awakened to this possibility. And for some reason the corporates also stay away. Why isn’t Sushil Kumar endorsing energy drinks and breakfast cereal?

Score:
1

Photo Courtesy: TOI

2-0
The score line in the final of the triangular series in Australia and in the home test series against the same opponents. Both were landmark moments for Indian cricket.

6.5-4.5
The victory margin for Vishwanathan Anand against Vladimir Kramnik in the World Championship Match –up in the classic format. The media might call this another world title for the Chess maestro but the real aficionado will tell you that this one mattered more than anything. Anand thus became only the second non-Russian to become world champion in the classic format.

18
The number of Olympics that India’s streak of playing in the hockey event of the quadrennial event lasted, before we suffered the ignominy of missing out in Beijing. And based on what’s happened after, there is a good chance that we could start a new streak – one of missing out.

4-1

The score line in the final of the AFC Challenge Cup as India humbled Tajikistan. For once, India’s football side had the entire nation glued to attention as they went on a rare winning run which culminated in the title triumph and qualification for the Asian Cup after 24 long years. Start making plans for 2011.

36 and 9
Like in 2008, Jeev Milkha Singh had won 4 tournaments in 2006 also. But 2008 saw Jeev become the first Indian to have a top ten finish in a major, when he finished 9th in the PGA Championship. The other highlight for Milkha Singh’s son was achieving a career-best world ranking of 36. Like the golfer, we have also started dreaming of winning a major.

10
This was the year-end world ranking of Saina Nehwal – India’s shining new hope in badminton. Saina
Has taken major strides this year – narrowly missed an Olympic medal, won the world juniors and made a semi-final appearance at the BWF World Masters. Prakash Padukone sees a future world number one in her and we don’t disagree with the great man

0 and 0
The number of Indian drivers in the Force India Formula One side and the number of points won by ‘India’s’ team in formula one. Not seeing an Indian in the driving seat was disappointing and therefore the zero points didn’t hurt so much.

83
The most brilliant cricket innings played by an Indian player in 2008. There have been far bigger ones but nothing comes close to Virender Sehwag’s effort in terms of sheer audacity and eventual impact on the outcome of the game. Indian cricket’s most memorable non-century innings ever.

204
The year-end rank of the new hope of Indian men’s tennis – Somdev Dev Varman. This young man has been a professional tennis player for only six months and is already our highest ranked singles player. He has all the game, the physique and the mind to make it big. And he also has the support of all Indian tennis fans.

2
The number of gold medals won by India at the World Junior Chess Championships. India thus became the first country to win both the boys and girls titles. Dronavalli Harika and Abhijeet Gupta reflect the growing power of Indian chess –Vishy is the king and there are pretenders galore

2500000
The total prize money in dollars at the Emaar MGF Indian Masters – the first European Tour sanctioned event to be played in India. Having this tournament in India was clearly a sign of India’s growing stature in golf

4
The number of Indian players in the top-50 of men’s badminton. Led by world no 15 Chetan Anand and nurtured by Padukone and Pullela Gopichand, India has a decent program in place and a steady stream of good players coming through. I always wonder, why, in spite of all this, badminton has not become a darling of the sponsors, the fans and the media.

4 and 4
The number of World titles won by women’s boxer MC Mary Kom and the number of medals won by the men at the first AIBA World Cup. After years of promise, the medals have finally started to come. The recruitment of a South African physio and a Cuban coach has played no small part. It’s imperative that we make the most of this momentum

3
The number of sports federations headed by Suresh Kalmadi – Athletics, Olympics and now Hockey. He is also in charge of the Delhi Commonwealth Games which are in serious danger of being moved to a new location owing to the glaring delays in meeting project timelines. I will say nothing about his performance though.

2
The rank of India’s richest sports fan on the Forbes billionaire list. Lakshmi Mittal and his son-in-law Amit Bhatia have proven to be true sports fans – they were moved by India’s sporting plight and decided to make a meaningful contribution. The Mittal’s Champions Trust was born - it intends to support and fund talented sportspersons and potential Olympic medal winners to enable them to access the best specialists in the world, so that they can compete with the best in the world on a level playing field. With a list of beneficiaries that includes Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra, Akhil Kumar and Joshna Chinnappa, they are already making a difference.

115000000
The number of dollars paid by Mukesh Ambani to own the Mumbai franchise of the IPL – clearly a measure of the hype and possible potential of the league. The IPL lived up to all the hype and unleashed a creature which could change most of the paradigms of the game of cricket.

6-1
The score by which Pankaj Advani beat eight time World Champion Geet Sethi in the final of the IBSF World Billiards Championships. This was in true sense a passing of the baton, from a legend of the green baize to one capable of being a true successor.

147+47
Ronjon Sodhi’s world-record equalling score which also made him the first Indian shooter to win a gold medal in the double trap event at the World Cup. It was unfortunate that this brilliant shooter could not find an Olympic berth. Sodhi along with Bindra and Gagan Narang are the stars of Indian shooting in 2008.

Saturday, December 6, 2008
But Maradona kept his date with Kolkata. And the city went wild. The negative sentiments arising out of the terror attacks were buried. Spontaneous celebrations erupted. The joy on the streets was palpable. One of the millions of die-hard Maradona fans in Kolkata told IndiaAtLondon.com, “Maradona’s trip has made me believe that all negativity intended by selfishness, doubt, hatred, fear, harm, terror and weakness can never survive to eternal values of strength, love and selflessness. I realize this when I see Maradona in Kolkata. The people of Kolkata will get nothing material from Maradona but just look at the love he is getting. Keep the faith in humanity. Only the good will survive.” It would be fair to say that, just 10 days after the attack, sports had scored a goal over terror.

Sunday, December 7, 2008
Kevin Pietersen and his men took a unanimous decision to resume the tour to India. “Every now and then an opportunity arises which transcends cricket and goes beyond the boundary,” said Hugh Morris, the managing director of England cricket. “Our players have made a brave and courageous decision that will be respected all around the world.”

Monday, December 8, 2008
The Commonwealth Games Federation dismissed any uncertainty over the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes. In a statement to the Scotsman, the Federation’s honorary secretary Louise Martin said, “There are no thoughts of pulling the games. It actually makes you more determined they go ahead as planned.” Hopefully, there is a grain of truth in these statements. The terror attacks wpuld definitely have instilled a renewed sense of urgency and determination amongst the Indian authorities.

These are extremely positive signs. Now it’s the turn of the Indian sports fans to come out in large numbers and make each of the sporting events a spectacular success.

How are they doing it?

They run full-fledged sports academies, where they identify and nurture young talent. The objective is to realize the full potential of talented youngsters by making future world beaters out of them. In that sense, they are completely different from the hundreds of tennis and cricket academies that have mushroomed all over the country. These academies are more like schools teaching children the basic fundamentals of the game. The academies of Usha or Padukone on the other hand are more like a state-of-the-art computer lab in an IIT or a top US University – one which churns out world-class scientists and technocrats.

Additionally, these academies are non-profit organizations which run on corporate funding and govt granted land. Padukone, Usha and Gopichand didn’t make a lot of money during their playing careers. There was little in terms of prize money and nothing by way of endorsements. Still they are not doing this to make money. They are doing this for purely sporting reasons.

All of them have been victims of what we call the system. They achieved what they did in spite of not having the best training facilities, the best coaching and support staff and the best equipment. They didn’t get enough international exposure and never had financial backing of any kind. They did it the hard way.

And now they want to give the talented youngsters of today, a better chance than what they had. Kids in these academies get the best of everything. Padukone, Usha and Gopichand want their wards to achieve more then what they did. They are just driven by a fierce desire to see more success in their sport. These guys and gal (that is Usha) are completely in love with their sport.

This is what we can actually call ‘giving something back to the sport.’

This comes courtesy of Richard Moore’s report in The Scotsman. It’s really a credit to the Indian media that we have to depend on a Scottish newspaper for updates on something that is happening in our country.

Now for the update.

The preparations for the Games are lagging seriously behind schedule – so much so that the Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper has been spending half his time in New Delhi overseeing the work.

There is also talk that the Games could be in grave danger, with some even talking of the worst case scenario – that the games will be handed back to the last host, Melbourne – becoming a genuine possibility. That would really be a proud moment for Indian sport.

But are we exaggerating the issue. Preparation for such mega events have known to be behind schedule, most recently during the Athens Olympic Games.

The Delhi case, however, is a little different. This because the projected completion dates for most of the facilities is very aggressive in the first place, leaving very little breathing space.

Work began on the 58,000-seat main stadium last August and is scheduled to finish on 31 January 2010. The same completion date is given for the lawn bowls facility. The final touches to the facilities housing weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, shooting, table tennis, archery, squash, badminton, table tennis, tennis and swimming is set for a month earlier.

So what stage are these facilities in?

As per the official games website these facilities – all of them – still exist only as artists’ impressions.

And that is not all. It gets scarier

The “final design” is still being developed for the swimming pool, while the cycling velodrome appears to be at a “concept design” stage.

If you still aren’t worried, then either you don’t care about these games or have Alladin’s magic lamp lying at home.

Interestingly, at the recent Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, encouraged India to bid for the 2020 Olympic Games.

He was either being sarcastic or is a very good diplomat.

Update (November 12, 2008): Looks like the Indian media has finally woken up. Here’s today’s report of the above issue on IBNLive.com.

Update (November 13, 2008): Mr Suresh Kalmadi waxed eloquent on how the Delhi half-marathon was the perfect build-up for the Commonwealth Games. On one hand the media conveniently forgot to report the trouble the 2010 games are facing and on the other hand they give the culprits an opportunity for self–praise.

But these three medals including a golden one were won by a nation which had just won a single medal in each of the last three Olympics and none in the three before that - a nation which had never won three medals at a single Olympics and a nation which had last won a creditable gold medal way back in 1964. I take the liberty to discount the hockey gold of 1980 as the games were boycotted by the major hockey powers. And that is not all – that is merely a reflection of all the other good which does not show up in the medals tally.

So what is all the other good?

Other than the fact that the medals will spare Indian journalists a lot of embarrassment at all international sports events for the next 4 years.

The greater good from these Olympics is the hope and the confidence that we have gained as a sporting nation – sportspersons and fans alike - That we can compete with the very best in various sports – there is no ceiling to what we can do. We can beat a Russian world champion in boxing and we can beat a top ranked Chinese in badminton. The Olympics have raised expectations – we will no longer be satisfied with a creditable effort. Only a win or a medal will do. And that is why Akhil Kumar and Saina Nehwal will get back with renewed vigour to go one better. Coz famous victories aren’t good enough any more. We have tasted blood and we will not settle for anything less.

The other good is the attention it brought to other sports. The Olympics have always been about hockey – because of the 8 golds, tennis – because of Leander and Bhupathi and Shooting and Athletics – for the bagful of medals we win at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games respectively. This Olympics just set all the conceptions and misconceptions about our ‘world –beating ability in various sports’ straight on the largest stage possible with the almost the whole sports-watching public in attendance.

The big winners were Boxing, Wrestling, and Badminton. The biggest losers were Athletics, Tennis, Shooting and Archery. And hockey wasn’t even present. We have been sick of the mediocrity in these sports and the success in others was welcome relief. This because in spite of Abhinav Bindra’s gold the shooting stars of the Commonwealth games stunk at the Olympics and so did all the athletes. We have been performing well in sports like boxing and badminton for quite sometime but nobody cared. Now thanks to the Olympics the public cares and the powers that be cannot ignore them any more. This Olympics could to a certain extent do something for Boxing and other sports what the 1983 World Cup win did for cricket in this country – starting a revolution. The early signs are encouraging. The Olympic feats relegated the cricketers’ victory in SriLanka to the back pages and guys like Akhil Kumar are now household names.

The greatest good however was the attention these Olympics brought to the efforts of the Mittal Champions Trust. More than half the heroes of Beijing have benefited from their benevolence and love for sport. We now know what 10 million dollars can do. It can turn a talented prospect into a world beater. Our country’s sporting history abounds with stories of potential champions who were unable to take the next step because of lack of funds. The Trust’s effort has proved that there is enough potential in this country which is just waiting for a little cash to succeed at the highest level. Now there is hope for them.

And the better part is that the Mittals are just getting started. They first started by working with the top layer of sports and have already delivered. They have now started to move into lower levels and have gotten into talent scouting. The fruits of their efforts will spur them on to do more and that will mean more good news for Indian Sports. More so with the next Olympics in their adopted city of London.

The best part is the competition that we hope will now start among other Indian corporates to emulate the Mittals. It does not take a doctorate in marketing to see that the Mittals investment in India’s Olympic dream will reap them a lot of social goodwill in this country - the Return on Investment is astronomically high – more than the ROI on all the money spent on funding cricket tournaments and film award nights. It was an experiment which no one had bothered to do. Now its success has been proved beyond doubt and there is no patent on it. The race to copy the Mittals will mean more money for future world beaters and subsequently more glory to Indian sport. The govt which is cash strapped and has a meagre sports budget should at least declare some sops on corporate money spent on promotion of sports.

The mention of the govt brings an end to all the good things about the Beijing Olympics – pun intended. Therefore, its time now to move to the bad stuff.

The Bad Part

The saddest part of the Beijing Olympics is that the mismanagement of sport continues in this country. And whatever we achieve is in spite of the govt and not because of the govt - starting from the way athletes are selected to represent the country, sent for training and finally in the way they are dressed for the opening ceremony ( please refer to the Sania Mirza and Sunitha Rao fiasco)

Abhinav Bindra made a wonderful point about the need for professionalism in Indian sport. Mr Suresh Kalmadi retorted by saying that politicians and industrialists were required to run sports federations because only they knew the art of getting money out of the govt’s coffers.

These are the same guys who complain that the Govt does not provide enough funds for sports – so that means they are not doing a good job of the task that they are supposed to do in Mr Kalmadi’s words - in spite of them being the so called experts. Mr Kalmadi conveniently forgot to mention the other things politicians are good at doing – embezzling funds. And also that he and his cohorts have no clue of what to do with the money they get from the govt. The Govt has provided Mr Kalmadi with a huge budget to ensure sporting success at the 2010 commonwealth Games. And what is Mr Kalmadi’s master plan – ask the Chinese for help. Shouldn’t we just hire the Chinese instead?

The success of the Mittal Trust provides further proof of why things are bad. Other than the money, the Mittals have also brought in professional management. The Trust has on its board past sportspersons like former national tennis champion Manisha Malhotra. This is why they have managed to get so much done for just 10 million dollars. They have a far better understanding of what it takes to create champions.

The hiring of special sports therapist Heath Mathews for the boxers is a case in point. While the boxers and the coaches were raving about the South African’s contribution, the federation thought he wasn’t important enough to be going to Beijing. In Beijing, a defective Velcro strap caused a horrible gash on Akhil Kumar’s face. Any kind of bleeding would have led to an automatic disqualification for the boxer. Guess who got the wound stitched up to avoid such a disaster. Yes, Heath Mathews it was. The sad part is that in spite of all this evidence nothing will change; such is the stranglehold that politicians have on the reins of Indian sport.

Such a situation also limits the efficacy of what the likes of the Mittal Trust can do. The Trust can help make winners out of potential stars, but it is the federations who have the wherewithal to find and groom the potential stars.

A recent study by economists Anirudh Krishna and Eric Haglund provides an answer to another question – why we as a nation of 1.2 billion can’t produce enough champions – because the population of effective participants in sports is far less. An effective participant is one who takes regular part in sporting activities. This is where our federations and govt have failed us and where the Chinese have succeeded – as shown in Beijing. More than 40% of China’s population is involved in regular sporting activities. They have created the infrastructure to facilitate such high levels of participation. Is Mr Kalmadi listening?

So what does the future behold?

The future is bright. Beijing will increase participation in non cricketing sports. We can expect more corporate money to flow in. The corporates will also get professionals to manage their sporting investments; much in the same way VC’s get experts to mentor the start-ups they fund. A combination of the saturation of cricket and success of Beijing has ensured that the likes of Vijender Kumar are getting endorsement offers. India just became less cricket-ized.

As for the govt and the federations, they can’t get any worse. They can only get better from here. With the Commonwealth Games looming and the Chinese and the Mittals showing the way, they have the motivation and the formula for success.

We can start planning for the next Olympics. London is going to be a lot better than Beijing. No pun intended.

India goes to the Olympics. Most Indian athletes do badly. Being the Olympics, many Indians are watching and taking note of the superlative performance of the athletes from other countries.

Then the media gets to work. Criticizes the performance of Indian athletes and then moves to the people who run sports in India - Criticizes them for India’s poor performance. Finally, they wax eloquent on the over apathy towards sports in the country.

Then the citizens respond. They send sms’ to TV polls; participate in public discussion programs and comment on other forums. They also lament the sad state of affairs.

There is also a lot of regular ‘nation of 1 billion’ rhetoric.

Then everybody goes back to work.

The athletes continue to toil manfully. The media glare is no longer there. They are no more a part of public discussions.

The media goes back to reporting ‘breaking news’ about a ministers dog having malaria.

The public goes back to watching cricket.

The administrators continue their merry ways.

And then four years pass by.

Suddenly India’s poor performance at the Olympics doesn’t look very surprising.

What good is a population of 1 billion if for 3 years and 11 months they don’t care? They compare our performance with that of other nations. But do they ever compare their apathy with the interest that citizens of other nations take in their country’s sporting fortunes. In that case do they have a right to complain? But are they totally to blame?

Isn’t the media also to blame???

Yes, they are. But do we really expect them to change?

In that case someone needs to do what the media doesn’t – tell the people of this country about what goes on in the 3 years and 11 months between Olympics.

The more the people know, the more they will care. And the more they care, the more they will do.

And 1 billion can definitely do a lot if they know and they care.

The administrators for starters, better beware.

The more the public knows about what non-cricketing sportspersons do, the more they will want to help them. After all, they like to see success at the Olympics.

And don’t you think the corporates would also care if the public cared.

There’s never been a better time to start.

After all, we just had our best Olympic performance and there is a considerable interest in sports like boxing, badminton, wrestling and shooting. The non-cricketers seem to be holding onto the public’s attention. So let’s ensure that this good thing continues.

Let’s start informing the public about what goes on for 3 years and 11 months before the next Olympics arrive.

Let’s try and make a difference for what India can do at London.

www.indiaatlondon.com makes sure we don’t continue to wake up just once every four years. We keep India awake, all the time. Let the 1 billion count. Go India go.