Sports infrastructure in India is still at it’s stemming phase where a lot needs to be done there needs to be fast track evolution of infrastructure and related factors which determine the gestation period of this milestone.
This is capital owned by the state for society’s greater good but clearly that is not the concern when it comes to sports infrastructure in India and its adequate maintenance.
According to the constitution, sports is a state subject wherein the government has to invest, create and conserve so that some amount of standard is maintained in comparison to it’s counterparts on a global level.
The condition of sports infrastructure in India is so dilapidated that hardly any medals are won in Olympics, Asian games or in commonwealth games. If we take an overview on the performance of India other than cricket and compare with the other sports, Michael Phelps has the same number of medals to his name as India has managed to win since 1990.
Sports has always been seen as a downgrading factor which allows no income and a secure future. If we want to inculcate values of sporting culture in india, it takes a backlash on the simplest thing that the state can provide for it’s aspiring athletes is appropriate Infrastructure so that the talent pool in India can be recognized, harnessed so that laurels can be brought to the country. Irony is that the designated authorities can grant spaces for the erection of a new mall in metropolitan cities but a new stadium takes years to take shape. Thus, the slow processes of the government and not so keen interest on building the appropriate infrastructure for sports development takes a hard turn on various games in india.
The poor state of infrastructure in India for sports is directly hitting on it’s performance level of the athletes in competitive environment. This shows that the credibility of authorities in appropriating infrastructure is falling limitless. There have been instances when the athletes have faced dishonor that have questioned their faithfulness to their country when representing their valor and spirit at international level. Sometimes, they fall out of spirit and appreciation when it comes to representing their nation at sports because they still feel that center of sports development and struggle for basic institutional support and a few words of encouragement can yield out the best in them.
The evolution and genesis of sports in india can be dated back to ancient times when the Mughal and colonial rule was prevailing. According to their understanding of sports and the physical aspect of it archery practice and sword drills aimed at developing strength and flexibility.
Polo can be addressed as a indigenous game of the country for centuries it was played in Gilgit, Chitral and Manipur. It flourished during the mogul period and called it chougan.
Cricket, Football and tennis were sports that were played in British Cantonments during the colonial era and therefore considered elitist. Other indigeneous sports like wrestling, Kabaddi and Gilli Danda were confined to lower classes played by the masses.
Cricket as a sport was such a hit because it was nurtured by public figures, Military commanders and journalists. Naturally, to get the respect and authority from their peers Princes and Maharajas took up this alien sport. Ann Marrow stated in her book ‘The Maharajas of India’ sports was meant ‘sweating the Sex’ out of the other ranks.
Spatial aspects of sports infrastructure are still in pipeline to achieve its excellence globally and nationally. At the grassroot level where the local aspect comes into play because it is underdeveloped and needs a careful monitoring so that it can be fruitful to the national aspect. With a population of 1.3 billion where such diverse people exist in every realm can bring out so much talent both from rural and urban areas.
In Jamaica the total population is 28 lakh which is nowhere sizeable to india in terms of demography, interesting finding is that out of the whole population 1 Lakh is dedicated to sports and it’s maintenance related jobs. This gives an idea how the implementation and prioritizing of a policy can affect its performance.
To synthesize the problem at the local and national level that shows how severely has the sporting culture been affected. Fitness and sports is not the top priority for masses with 10% of Indians exercising less than 1 hour per week. Statistics are shocking whenever they come in context to sports as 57% of Indians haven’t played a sport once in 12 months. For eradicating this particular problem in the spatial sphere where appropriate awareness and proper infrastructure has been left out. Even in local and urban spaces one needs to go out on a trail to discover sports facilities and the process itself is so exhausting as most people give up assuming that none exists around them.
But the scenarios have extensively changed in a metropolitan city like Bangalore with a strong presence of IT sector which means relatively younger and literate population to understand the shortcomings of sports facilities and their worth in cultivating the sporting culture.
100 newly constructed and privately owned badminton courts and football turfs have been opened for the general public on a pay-and-play basis. The policy of pay-and-play has revolutionized the admission and usability of sports arenas as it is an online cashless booking facility that is convenient for the people. It is also seen through the investment perspective that sports venues are high in investment with a range of 60-90% a year, as compared to any other source of investment which at best gives 20-30% returns.
Now, if we analyze things from the global level with India and it’s counterpart taking a retrospective view of how India is still in the gestation period. In 2012, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was suspended from the panel of International Olympic Committee (IOC) supposedly for inducting leaders who had criminal charges pending against them. Thus, remorse filled athletes of India had to compete under the flag of International Olympic Committee at the Sochi winter games instead of the Indian banner. This is just the case in one of the many sports, others have suffered well enough like shooting and archery have complained that the equipment from that they practice is outdated and not in par with international standards which takes time to get accustom to the modern equipment when they go to compete at international competitions.
Another highlighted case which brought global attention as to how we treat our athletes, sports ministry ignored famous and the only woman gymnasts Dipa Karmakar’s request for taking her physio to Rio which was deemed wasteful by the Ministry. Saddened fact about all of this is that ours is a country where encouragement comes after achievement.
Globally, after taking a comprehensive approach india has evolved for the better with sports retailing growing at a rate of 9-12% projected to grow to USD 66 billion in 2025. The overall sports Infrastructure estimated at a whooping 11.9 billion. After several initiatives of holistic approach towards sports the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in collaboration with Private Public Partnership entities devised sports sponsorship market in the country which grew from 12% year on year in 2015 to reach 51,90 crore. If we compare our population participating in various sports it is a dismal figure with 1% as against 35% in USA, 33% in Singapore, 30% in EU, 30% in China and 15% in Asia Pacific. After the inception of various leagues in India to be at the same level of such as the Indian Premier League, Indian Super League, Hockey India League and Pro-kabbadi all have been tools to integrate the sporting culture and to maximize the sports industry in India which has substantially increased from 43.7 Billion to 48 billion.
With these leagues getting sponsorship, viewership and online social media endorsements have helped in growing the sports market to the 11th biggest market for sports apparel and footwear in the world, INR 400 billion being spent every year. In terms of popularizing sports, privatization must take place as it has worked in foreign countries as well.
Corporatization of sports is a necessary step to bring in capital and liquidity for asset creation.
We can take the example of how this model is relevant in modern times with cricket always being in the limelight and the favorite sport but times have taken a acute turn.
ESP properties report-2017, states that the meritorious Rio Olympic winners Sindhu and Malik generated non-cricket endorsements by 83.5% in 2016 from 542 to crore to 77.1 crore.
The arena from TransStadia, the venue where the 2016 Kabaddi world cup was hosted which India just won can house 14 different sporting facilities under one roof. With high advancements taking mind the audience it features the patented T-box technology which enables it to set up seating within minutes. Another world class addition to infrastructure is the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) formul 1 motor racing track built by the private entity Jaypee Group has already hosted two Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2011 and the other in 2012.