Having read some of your stuff on Rediff before, I must confess I’m pretty disappointed this time around. What exactly was the point of the article? It just states patently obvious facts and repeats the hackneyed “why can’t a nation of 1 billion produce one Olympic medal” question that people has been asking for ages. Firstly, your basic premise is rooted in some misplace notion of nationalism or patriotism. Who really gives a shit if the country of India does not get a gold medal at the Olympics? My thoughts below:
1. Firstly, why is this even a “problem” to begin with? OK, so the nation of India sucks at sports. Is that so hard to digest? Frankly, if I were a “patriotic” Indian citizen, I’d be more concerned if Indian soldiers were strong enough to fight – whether Indians win some medals in a sporting contest if of marginal importance. On the military front, Indians have proved themselves to be reasonably competitive. 2. Anyway, since you deem it to be a problem, how about suggesting some real solutions? “Strategic intent” and “lack of leadership” – surely you can come up with some more practical “solutions” to this “problem”, then coming up with some B-school buzzwords. 3. Comparisons can be odious – especially with China. How on earth can you compare a communist country or other former soviet-era east block countries and their regimented (ruthless) training regimen with the state of affairs in India? Its worth noting that even the communist states of Kerala and
