[Puffdamgcdragon]

A Topic close to my heart.

I disagree with some of the views here. It is not the case of Indians being physically weaker than the Europeans and the Americans. Take the case of the Chinese. In average, they are much weaker physically than the average Indian but they excel in lots of disciplines like Badminton, T.T, Swimming, Diving, Gymnastics and lately, Track & Field too. u can choose Ur sport according to your physical attributes.

It's also not cause of a lack of will of the athletes. There are so many young sports persons- boys and girls- who come from the really low income families and who have no other option to go ahead in life but sports. They are there, giving their heart out day and night. Trust me, I know. i used to be a National Level athlete. They are just not encouraged properly by the administrators and the officials to perform.

There is too much politics in sports and even the genuine Sportsmen eventually starts thinking, "no point in trying to excel in my discipline,better try to lick up to the coaches and the administrative officials and get a piece of the pie.."

The whole system of ALL Sports and SAI (Sports Authority of India) is geared, not to encourage real sports men and women to perform, but to make real tidy sums of profits for the members of various associations affiliated to it and coaches and trainers who lick up to them. The real sports persons are just a byproduct of the system.

From 1989 to 2003, I won the Gold in Eight National Championships and Two National Games. (Taekwondo- Men's Black Belt Middle and Heavy Weight) Yet I only got to go for One Asian Championships. That too after I funded for it myself. Didn't have money so sold a plot of land to go to Kuala Lumpur to represent my country. Our Taekwondo Federation of India planned the route in such a way that before the tournament we went via Bangkok (For Shopping and Relaxation- Read- to Bang C..k by the esteemed President and members of the August Federation)We reached KL a day late. Three of our team members didn't get to fight. Am not kidding. Was very badly disillusioned.
Me and a teammate form Goa protested and we were branded "Anti-National" and threatened that we would never get a chance to represent the country again. We put our protest in writing. We never represented the country again.

[Centro-P]

Originally Posted by sbasak

Although dirty politics, regionalism, lack of funds, discourage from family etc. contribute to the problem, the bottom line is that Indians, in general, are not very strong physically!

An average American/European are much stronger than average Indians. This is fact.

India has comparatively better position in cricket because only few countries play cricket. If cricket was popular like football, Indian's position would have not been any better in global ranking (compared to our football ranking).

However, we are in generally better in academics compared to our western counterparts. There was a scientific study conducted on why so many Indians are in IT and it was stated that Indians are very much argumentative by nature which is beneficial for IT. (although India got jobs initially mainly for cost factor, it is no longer the only reason)

Throughout the history, we never invaded another country. It simply shows we don't really have the agressive attitude (it's a requirement for many sports). If we were strong, how come a few thousands British could rule millions of us for 200 years??

Every race has its own expertise. Unfortunately, sports have never been Indian's forte.

No offense boss but that is one of the stupidest posts I have ever read.

What is the scientific proof of the "fact" that Indians are weaker or Europeans or Americans or stronger? And what other interesting "facts" do you have? That north Indians are stronger than south Indians? That Chinese are very weak (you would be wrong in assuming that by looking at their sizes)? You know before the 1971 war the Pakistanis used to beleive that they are "genetically stronger" (now whatever the hell that means) and they were taller and stornger and braver and blah blah blah. And that Indians were short and dark and weak. And everybody knows what was the result of the war(not just 1971, the ones before and after it).

At the end of the day it all comes down to attitude towards sports. In India we have a pathetic attitude and that's why we don't win. What is the budget of the Indian Olympic Commitee? 10-15 crores? In contrast look at the budget of the IPL teams and how much each player is making. If you had a choice of playing for say Kolkata Knight Riders for cricket or Mohan Bagan or East Bengal for football which one would YOU choose to enhace your career and life and fame? Got the point? There is no frikkin encouragement at all. So why would anyone bother to go to any other sports? And also I think you are forgetting hockey. The oh so weak Indians won so many medals. Back then they had grass fields and we were good. Now hockey is played on astroturf. And guess how many astroturf fields are in India? None at all!! Then how the heck is our team supposed to perform? You know when our cricket team(ok forget the national cricket team, even the Ranji teams) when they go outside their city to play, they get to stay in nice star hotels. You know where our hockey team stays, the national hockey team btw, when they go out? They stay in schools or some broken down lodge. Now where is the motivation for them to go out and play? Kasba Jadhav got a medal for India at Helsinki 1952 olympics. I read a few years ago that his descendents had to sell his medal to make their ends meet. If such is the state of sports where is the motivation? Where is the respect?

So you say Indians are more inclined towards academics. So does that mean we are "genetically smarter" than Europeans or Americans? No! All it means we have a different priority. Since these western countries are rich, the govt takes care of the people and they don't have to be well educated to make a decent living. Heck a plumber can make $100k here. And all he needs is to be 12th pass. In India it is different. Without education you are nothing. Competiton is cutthroat and if you are not able to survive you will be left behind in life. And if you are a plumber in India you defnitley won't make $100k.

And also we say India never invaded a country in the last so many 1000 years. Ok first of all its a lie, partly. Ever heard of the Chola empire? If not please google the extant of their empire and you will see the truth about invasions. 2nd of all, and more importantly, there was no need to invade others. What do we have beyond India's borders(by India I mean greater India that includes Pakistan and Bangladesh). India is so fertile and rich in resources we don't have need to go outside. We had all the wealth in India itself. Heck that's why invaders came to India. That's why Mohd Ghazni came to India to loot the Somnath Temple 17 times! And what is beyond India? Afghanistan? That place is so barren it has nothing but rocks and mountains( Ghazni and Ghori were Afghans. See why they came to India?). Iran? Why would anybody want to leave India and invade a freakin desert? Central Asia? The very reason mongols spread out was that there were no resourses there.

And why did the British( well Mughals too) rule us? Btw Mughals were from Central Asia, Uzebekistan to be precise, so they were not "Indian". Well both Mughals and Brits outsmarted us. Rana Sangha lost the Battle of Khanwa to Babur because Sangha's Tomar general betrayed him as Babur promised a kingdom to the betrayer. And Battle of Khanwa, 1527, marks the beginning of the Mughal rule in India. As far as the Brits go they did the same. In Battle of Plassey, 1757, which marks the starting of British rule, they bribed Mir Jaffer. So out of Siraj ud Daulah's 50000 strong army, only 5000 fought against the Brits. Now all these are instances of "chal" not "bal". And coming to the Brits, they were the ones who created all this "genetically weak" and "martial race" bullc#@p so as to create an inferiority complex in the minds of Indias so they won't arise in rebellion. Unfortunately it is being followed by educated Indians even after 60 years of the Brits leaving India.

Please do not spread such self defeating lies. Brits left us 60 years ago, we should have enough confidence in ourself to examine the real reason for what happened and not some bs about "genetically" weak myth or whatever.

So in the end to win it comes down to $$ and attitude towards sports. Both of which we are lacking.

Sorry for the big rant. It just bothers me that some of us still have a "collective" inferiority complex.

[im_srini]

Hi, in my opinion there's too much of the wrong kind of attention or rather inteference from the establishment in matters of scouting, grooming & selection of our sportsmen. It's deplorable that we've let down our national sport, hockey, so ! And it's really sad to read real-life accounts from our sportsmen on the way they've been treated by our sporting authorities :(

And then of course, there's the predominance of Cricket - if only it was an Olympic sport, I'm sure we'd have done much better

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

From 1989 to 2003, I won the Gold in Eight National Championships and Two National Games. (Taekwondo- Men's Black Belt Middle and Heavy Weight) Yet I only got to go for One Asian Championships. That too after I funded for it myself. Didn't have money so sold a plot of land to go to Kuala Lumpur to represent my country. Our Taekwondo Federation of India planned the route in such a way that before the tournament we went via Bangkok (For Shopping and Relaxation- Read- to Bang C..k by the esteemed President and members of the August Federation)We reached KL a day late. Three of our team members didn't get to fight. Am not kidding. Was very badly disillusioned.
Me and a teammate form Goa protested and we were branded "Anti-National" and threatened that we would never get a chance to represent the country again. We put our protest in writing. We never represented the country again.

Ugh. Oh.

Right now, you have the power to expose the whole thing. Blog about it. Mention the names. Get the dates right. Get the names right. Get the sequence of events right. And do not stop with this one incident. I am sure that you had worse experiences earlier.

[diabloo]

China had a far worse record than India in Olympics till 1970s. See where they are now: so questions about talent scarce doesn't hold water.

If the parents concentrate about studies only and no sports, then how will the kids develop physical abilities? We will have smart people with weak physical strength, whose body gives in by the time they reach their 40s. Human body needs physical activity to remain healthy.

[snaronikar]

Diabloo: How about having "all the above" options in above poll? As almost all of the options are applicable to Indian sportsman.

[diabloo]

Eight-time Olympic hockey champions India didn't qualify for Beijing Games for the first time in 80 years.

But still but four of its coaches will be at the hockey tournament to study the strategy of other participating nations .

Four hockey coaches to study top teams in Beijing

They could have studied by sitting in their study room by analyzing the game on TV, but IOA felt they can study better, if they get the whiff of weather also .

[mjothi]

This is also one of the reason. I am sure you would have read about Monika Devi & Sailaja. Just read in paper that they both are cursing the other for not able to make it to olympics. First complaints that the 2nd gave bribe to get into the list. So 2nd was taken out from list. Now first is also taken because of drug and she compains it is all becasue of sailaja's

So, does it mean no woman from India will participate in Olymics for Weight lifting?

[sbasak]

What is the scientific proof of the "fact" that Indians are weaker or Europeans or Americans or stronger?

They don't need coolies at stations

[MalluDude]

There's certainly no dearth of talent in India. Shift of priorities is a major factor. One lady weightlifter announced her retirement at the peak of her career right after she got about a crore from the govt. Clearly she saw the sport as just a means of livelyhood.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by sbasak

They don't need coolies at stations

nah, they just can't afford them....in their country.

[diabloo]

India cuts sorry figure in Olympic opening ceremony

A slipshod India cut a sorry figure in the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony with the female members of the contingent making it a veritable go-as-you-like with their contrasting outfits that made them look completely misfit for the occasion.

The tennis duo of Sania Mirza and Sunitha Rao, attired in black trousers and practice jackets, looked completely out of sorts and the contrast was even more jarring to the eyes as going side by side was Delhi paddler, Neha Aggarwal who chose a greenish saree for the occasion.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by diabloo

India cuts sorry figure in Olympic opening ceremony

there couldn't be a better representation. We take pride in unity in diversity, and show the diversity wherever possible. Unison is an alien concept for us.

[Samurai]

These media people need to get over their inferior complexity. They always find a way to feel ashamed in presence of foreigners. That's what happens when you send rookies to report major international events, they should have sent people who routinely cover international events abroad.

[Mblova]

I selected all of them.