To justify the statement – ‘Is India beyond cricket a sporting nation?’ – is not an easy task. Of all the games, cricket cuts across all ages and types of people in India and has received the most support from all the organisations. The game having likeness of a religion in the country gets all round media coverage, Corporate sponsorship, and necessary framework at grassroots level, making it the most popular and warmly followed game in India. Though this dominance has conferred the impression that other sports find it hard to come into existence and get support. Still, underlying this, India’s engagement with sports besides cricket is complex and in the process of change.
Traditionally, it was not a norm in Indian culture where a country would support and develop different types of sports at the National level as compared with countries, for example, USA, China, Australian, where many types of sports are backed up traditionally both at institutional as well as grassroots level. As a result, many factors have influenced the formulation of this to include colonial impacts, economic hardships/pressures, and constraints/prohibited. In the modern world, there has been an improvement the attention and support that is given to other sports other than the cricket in India though the barriers still persist.
Cricket dominating the games market can also be attributed to the cultural aspect that the game holds to dat. Cricket in INDIA can from the British period and independent India saw an upliftment where it became an emblem of pride for India, especially after the 1983 world cup win. That is why the modern IPL has been built, which only solidifies the hegemony of cricket as entertainment, business and celebrity culture. The consequence of this is a sport with massive financial support and rather high audience involvement.
On the other hand most other sports in India have been faced with poor facilities, little funding and patronage and low attendance. Events such as the Ethiopian and fingers running, football, basketball, among others, are new global celebrations that for decades have been shunned and lacking adequate sponsorship in India. The absence of proper leagues, technical centers, and trainers has prevented athletes involved in these sports from succeeding in the manner crickets have, not to mention garnering the kind of public enthusiasm.
Nevertheless, the story is gradually shifting, and I do not want the reader to miss it. In the past ten years, there has been a growing trend in people’s fascination with the different sporting disciplines, which can be attributed to the performance of the country’s representatives at international level. In the recent past, the India team has shown much enhanced performance in Olympics, Commonwealth Games and other International Championships and tournaments and produced winners in the fields of badminton, wrestling, boxing, shooting and weightlifting. It has also led to a raise in awareness, what leads to higher investment, coverage of these sports and media attention.
Specifically, badminton has become popular due to Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, and Kidambi Srikanth which are the biggest stars of the country. With blessings of sports leaders of the country, PV Sindhu’s performance at the Rio 2016 Olympics followed by consecutive world championships have help in putting the game into focus. One of the other sports which have purveyed a cultural shift in the country are wrestling with icons like Sushil Kumar and Bajrang Punia, boxing with the likes of Mary Kom and shooting with legends like Abhinav Bindra and Manu Bhaker.
There has also been emergence of leagues for football (Indian Super League), badminton (Premier Badminton League), kabaddi (Pro Kabaddi League) and basketball (3BL Basketball League). These leagues have been playing a vital role in nurturing talent from an embryonic stage in addition to giving necessary ‘face-time’ and sponsorship to these kinds of sports. Particularly worthy to mention is the success of the Pro Kabaddi League Since its inception the league rejuvenated the traditional Indian sport which used to be in the shadow of cricket.
Soccer, another popular sport all over the world, is also getting a new lease of life in India. The Indian Football year begun with a new platform for national and international players to showcase talent through the Indian Super League (ISL 2014-15). Football however continues to be relatively less popular in terms of viewership and fan backing than cricket but the fan base is slowly rising especially among the youths. India’s showing in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017 proved the nation’s capability of making it big in football, although it is still a long way ahead of becoming a football giant.
One of the perennial issues even today standing in the way of developing a robust sporting culture outside cricket is the absence of an academically solid base or infrastructure and investment in actual talent at the grass-root level. While the facilities for training, coaching, and sports education are comparatively still a luxury in many parts of the country, particularly so for the sports apart from cricket. This inadequate advancement has not only restricted the number of talents that can be nurtured to professionally participate in sports but also serves a discouragement factor to potential participants in the rural areas where the possibilities of tweaking a career in sports are rare.
Also, the culture that has surrounded sporting activity especially in middle class India in the past, was one that was much more inclined towards bookish knowledge and steady, employable careers. Hobbies are still viewed as sports by many families and sports remain a hobby than a viable career especially for the non-cricket sports. However, the trend is being reversed as all over the world increasing numbers of athletes attract international attention, and with the government and the private sector upping support for sports production.
Government led schemes and campaigns such as the ‘Khelo India’ have been launched in the recent years to encourage sporting activities at the grass root level and to scout talents in the field of sports. These programmes are yet to start fully, but the effort is in the right direction since these various talent nurturing programmes for various sports disciplines should be supported fully.
The government has also been trying hard in the recent past to improve the sporting culture in the country apart from cricket. The improvements in the performance of India sportspersons in international events – the emergence of professional sporting leagues and enhanced sponsorship support from the government and the private sectors are other factors, which are helping build a more inclusive sporting culture in the country.
But the introduction of HD has been very slow and there is still much work to be done on the infrastructure, money investment and changing mind sets of the society. Hence, India has to become a multi-sport nation and for this to happen long term plans are required for each and every sport and its players.
