ET World Leaders Forum: India is playing it right, but becoming a sporting nation is still a long way off

Asmita Dey spent six years at the Sports Authority of India centre in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, wondering whether her sporting career would amount to anything as her performance mostly remained below par until 2024. "But I had given hope at my home, saying I will do something big someday," the first Indian judoka to win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month said at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum.

"Sometimes, I used to lose bouts at the nationals, and they would think 'kya hi karegi ye', my mother would say leave it and come back home... But my father would say, keep training and you will do something big. He is no more but his words still give me a lot of motivation," the 23-year-old said at the 'Champions Beyond Boundaries: Women Who Make India Proud' panel discussion moderated by Shriniwas Rao.

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Dey's story offers a glimpse of both the opportunities and challenges facing Indian sport. While Indian athletes bring home a fair share of medals across disciplines and competitions every year amid improving facilities and training programmes, the country still has a long way to go in building a sporting culture, former champions Saina Nehwal and Rani Rampal said.

Coming from a financially struggling family in Tripura, Dey said that even the basic support provided by the SAI made a big difference back in 2018. "I thought to myself-three meals a day and training thrice a day mean I can push myself." She said the SAI schemes are well devised, and the facilities from physiotherapy to massages push an athlete towards a medal. "Things can improve even more, like a faster rehab process can help an athlete enter a competition or win a medal," Dey said.

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Nehwal, India's first badminton player to win an Olympics medal, said the country needs to build greater awareness of sports beyond cricket. "Everybody in India knows how to play cricket, they might know who a Virat Kohli is, because you can watch cricket everywhere. They might know about Neeraj Chopra, but what about others?" she said.

Schools should introduce children to successful athletes and their achievements, Nehwal said. "Only then will you be able to develop an interest in them." People still get confused about Saina and Sania (Mirza), tennis and badminton. "Which is still okay...at least their knowledge about sports is improving," she said.

The former World No 1 did sound an alarm for the sport: "We are still very far from calling ourselves a sporting nation," the former World No 1 said, pointing out that not many badminton players are doing well after her and PV Sindhu. "There was a belief that 5-6 would be doing well immediately but still have just two or three players out of 100," she said. "We have a lot of academies and schemes, and a good system in place but children these days don't seem to have that passion to do everything to win," Nehwal said. "Some children even come to Gopi sir (ex-player and coach Pullela Gopichand) and say that I couldn't sleep last night and had horror dreams, so I will not be able to practice today."

Former India hockey captain Rani Rampal has advice for budding 14-15-year-old sportspersons: "Stay away from social media."

She said it's a big distraction that often prevents one from making a decision. "Today we see someone doing something on social media, you want to do that, tomorrow something else."

Discipline is another golden rule, Rampal said. "Do your fundamentals right. Sleep on time, get up on time, (and) eat healthy. When you sleep at night, your goal for the next day should be decided, your routine should be decided," she said. "We have Olympic medallist Saina here, I believe she would have followed the same routine for 20-25 years."

But sports remains a struggle in the country.

Dey recalled that when she came to the Sports Authority of India, Bhopal, in 2018, her family didn't have a home and lived on rent. "My parents used to sit in the belief that she would do something, and we'll have a home of our own," she said.