SubscriberWrites: Why India struggles to produce world number 1 “team” but is great in individual sports

Subscriber writes on Indians general tendency to be more inward looking and not enjoying each other’s success, which is the core to building a world beating sports team.

India's Neeraj Chopra reacts during the final of the men's javelin throw event at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, on 7 August 2021 | Gurinder Osan | PTI

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Like millions of Indians, my family and I too were over the moon when Jakub Vadlejch had an underwhelming sixth attempt, which couldn’t breach Neeraj Chopra’s second javelin throw on 7 August 2021. After days of celebrations, I critically started to think about India and our sporting culture. I concluded as much as Neeraj’s achievement is monumental, Indian hockey teams’ (both men and women) should be lauded at the same scale. Before I get into sharing my thoughts, I want to present few facts and result of one experiment I did with 10 families. 

1. What’s common between Prakash Padukone, Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi, Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Anjali Bhagwat, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Gagan Narang, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Jitu Rai, Apurvi Chandela, Elavenil Valarivan, Divyansh Singh, Vijender Singh, Mary Kom, Amit Panghal, Deepika Kumari, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Geet Sethi, Michael Ferreira, Vishwanathan Anand – partial list of Indian athletes who represented India in badminton, tennis, shooting, boxing, wrestling, billiards, snooker, chess? Not just that – all of them have been world number 1 in their respective disciplines at some point in their athletic career. One more similarity, they all represent a sport that can “largely” be classified as an “individual sport”.

2. Except cricket (which is just played only by a handful of countries), can you think of any “team sports” where India have been world number 1? At least I can’t recollect anything in my last four decades of following sports in general.

3. Finally, I asked this question to at least 10 parents, who are in my friends and family circle. I presented this hypothetical scenario to them:

“Imagine your offspring, who is the “first singles” player for his/her school badminton team and they are now playing their Gold Medal match (finals) against the strongest team in the country. Now there are two results possible. Option 1: Your offspring’s school emerges as a shock winner – winning the championship 3-2 though your offspring has lost his/her first singles match badly (or) Option 2: The opponent thrashes your offspring’s school 4-1 but your offspring wins his/her first singles match against the best player of that strongest team. I then asked them to give their honest preference without any pretensions or posturing

Forget about the answers I got. What is your preference?

If you had preferred Option 2, you are likely to join an overwhelming majority of parents I spoke to.

This brings me to my set of opinions as to why India struggles to produce a world number 1 “team” but has been able to produce scores of world number 1s in individual sports. 

I come from a typical middle-class home and I can clearly remember my parents telling me that if I don’t come right on top, there is no place for me in the “ladder of success”. Limited seats for professional course admission, limited vacancies for sports training, limited infrastructure, limited airport staff to clear you in immigration, limited… limited… our daily mantra. While I believe my parents just tried to motivate me to succeed in a country of scarcity like India, it also perhaps subconsciously made me think that I can win only when others lose. Intrinsically, I was never inducted to this beautiful world of “multiple people can win together”. Our education system, political system and social structure further amplified the same thinking. My suspicion is that I have millions of my countrymen for company.

The same logic can be explained in the corporate world as well. Everyone knows Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Shantanu Narayen, Indra Nooyi, Ajay Banga and others who are/have been CEOs of Fortune 100 companies and have been instrumental in taking their companies to greater heights during their time as CEO. But how many Indian companies are in Global Fortune 100 list today? Reliance – barely making to #96 in the 2020 list.

So, what am I saying? I feel the way we have fought for our growth has made Indians generally more inward looking and we may have forgotten to enjoy each other’s success, which is the core to building a world beating sports team or building Fortune 100 corporations. India today is not the India of ’70s and ’80s. Economic prosperity would have limited meaning if our attitude towards success doesn’t change. I am sure it will change and change for good.

Let me end where I started. Neeraj Chopra’s gold and Indian hockey teams’ bronze and number 4 position should be viewed at par, precisely for the same reasons tabled.

I know l have touched a very sensitive subject and I am also sure that I will get infinitely more brickbats than bouquets. But if this can make a handful of parents think critically about this, I think I would have achieved my purpose of touching this sensitive topic.

Welcome all the brickbats and your comments.

—– Sivakumar Thulasidoss

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