Jackdaws
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The irony of a person from a Communist nation talking about polls isn't lost on me.
Body mass index of Indian 19-year-olds among lowest in 200 countries
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beijingwalker
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BBC: Olympic losers: Why is India so bad at sport?
Justin Rowlatt
South Asia correspondent
"We have never won a medal for running," says the Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, "but with God's grace I will get to the finals and I will win one."
If the fastest woman in India succeeds, it will be a breakthrough for Indian sport.
The world's second most populous nation has the worst Olympic record in terms of medals per head.
In the past three decades, it has won only one gold medal - for the men's 10m rifle in 2008.
In London, in 2012, it bagged its best haul, six medals, or one for every 200 million people.
In 2008, it got just three medals. Before that, it was lucky to come home with a single medal.
Compare India's performance with minnows such as Grenada and Jamaica, which regularly get a medal for every couple of hundred thousand people.
So why isn't India punching its weight?
One reason is undoubtedly money.
India, despite its space programme and burgeoning population of billionaires, is still a very poor nation in terms of per capita income, and sport has never been a priority for the government, according to Shiva Keshavan.
Keshavan is far and away India's greatest Winter Olympian.
He competes in luge, a kind of super-fast sledge. In two of the past five Winter Games, he was the only Indian to qualify, the only member of a team of one. Yet his ticket to Sochi was paid not by the Indian government but by crowdfunding.
And the lack of government - or any other - funding has also seen Keshavan adopt an eye-poppingly dangerous training regime.
There are no luge facilities in India, so he screwed wheels to the bottom of his sledge and practised on Himalayan roads, overtaking cars and lorries to reach speeds of up to 100km/h. (62mph)
"At one point I couldn't sustain my career," says Keshavan.
"I couldn't go for training, I couldn't go for competitions because I didn't have the money for that, so I started looking for sponsorship. And I actually went to 100 companies before one of them said yes."
He believes the chronic lack of resources has undermined his performance, and that of most other Indian athletes.
"I think to be sustainable we have to have a proper system for athlete selection and training from a young age," he says.
The Indian Olympic Association admits the country has not always done enough to support its athletes, but says there is more to India's sorry performance than just a shortage of cash or organisation.
Its head, Narayana Ramachandran, says sport is rarely at the top of anyone's agenda - and that includes athletes and their families.
"Sport has always taken a back seat vis a vis education," he says.
Most Indian families would prefer their children became dentists or accountants than Olympians, Mr Ramachandran says.
"Families tend to give their children more education," he says.
"The view is concentrate on education, rather than sport. The basic feeling is that sport doesn't bring the money that is required to run a family."
India's cultural and caste traditions play a role too, according to Prof Ronojoy Sen, of the University of Singapore.
He has written a book on the history of sport in India and believes the country's poor Olympic record has deep roots.
Indians have traditionally seen themselves primarily not as individuals, but as members of their caste, tribe or region, he says.
Even when people excel in sport, they are often discouraged from pursuing it to top levels, by their families and wider community.
And social stratification has meant different castes tended not to play sport together.
"The lower castes constitute the bulk of India's population, and these lower castes are also the ones who don't have access to education, don't have access to good nutrition, health," Prof Sen says.
"That has meant that a large part of India's population hasn't been able to take part in sport, and hasn't had access to sporting facilities."
There is one sport in which India does, of course, excel: cricket. The huge money professional teams can invest means the best athletes are almost inevitably drawn towards the wicket, draining the pool available for other sports.
Now, private companies are stepping in to try to fill the gaps in funding for Olympic sports.
They are following the example of countries such as Australia and the UK, which have dramatically increased their medal count by investing in elite selection and training programmes.
It has been estimated that each medal the UK won in 2012 cost £4.5m.
Maneesh Bahuguna, of Anglian Medal Hunt, which is funding a number of predominantly disprivileged athletes, including Dutee Chand, believes its efforts will - in time - deliver results.
"What we bring to the table for these athletes is the ability to bridge the gap between those best practices that are unavailable to them otherwise and the final performance at the Olympic Games," Mr Bahuguna says.
"We improve their conditioning, physical and mental, by leaps and bounds."
India is fielding its best-trained and biggest-ever team in Rio.
It is hoping to deliver on the promise of the country's vast population, reaping rewards on the winner's podium.
Justin Rowlatt
South Asia correspondent
"We have never won a medal for running," says the Indian sprinter Dutee Chand, "but with God's grace I will get to the finals and I will win one."
If the fastest woman in India succeeds, it will be a breakthrough for Indian sport.
The world's second most populous nation has the worst Olympic record in terms of medals per head.
In the past three decades, it has won only one gold medal - for the men's 10m rifle in 2008.
In London, in 2012, it bagged its best haul, six medals, or one for every 200 million people.
In 2008, it got just three medals. Before that, it was lucky to come home with a single medal.
Compare India's performance with minnows such as Grenada and Jamaica, which regularly get a medal for every couple of hundred thousand people.
So why isn't India punching its weight?
One reason is undoubtedly money.
India, despite its space programme and burgeoning population of billionaires, is still a very poor nation in terms of per capita income, and sport has never been a priority for the government, according to Shiva Keshavan.
Keshavan is far and away India's greatest Winter Olympian.
He competes in luge, a kind of super-fast sledge. In two of the past five Winter Games, he was the only Indian to qualify, the only member of a team of one. Yet his ticket to Sochi was paid not by the Indian government but by crowdfunding.
And the lack of government - or any other - funding has also seen Keshavan adopt an eye-poppingly dangerous training regime.
There are no luge facilities in India, so he screwed wheels to the bottom of his sledge and practised on Himalayan roads, overtaking cars and lorries to reach speeds of up to 100km/h. (62mph)
"At one point I couldn't sustain my career," says Keshavan.
"I couldn't go for training, I couldn't go for competitions because I didn't have the money for that, so I started looking for sponsorship. And I actually went to 100 companies before one of them said yes."
He believes the chronic lack of resources has undermined his performance, and that of most other Indian athletes.
"I think to be sustainable we have to have a proper system for athlete selection and training from a young age," he says.
The Indian Olympic Association admits the country has not always done enough to support its athletes, but says there is more to India's sorry performance than just a shortage of cash or organisation.
Its head, Narayana Ramachandran, says sport is rarely at the top of anyone's agenda - and that includes athletes and their families.
"Sport has always taken a back seat vis a vis education," he says.
Most Indian families would prefer their children became dentists or accountants than Olympians, Mr Ramachandran says.
"Families tend to give their children more education," he says.
"The view is concentrate on education, rather than sport. The basic feeling is that sport doesn't bring the money that is required to run a family."
India's cultural and caste traditions play a role too, according to Prof Ronojoy Sen, of the University of Singapore.
He has written a book on the history of sport in India and believes the country's poor Olympic record has deep roots.
Indians have traditionally seen themselves primarily not as individuals, but as members of their caste, tribe or region, he says.
Even when people excel in sport, they are often discouraged from pursuing it to top levels, by their families and wider community.
And social stratification has meant different castes tended not to play sport together.
"The lower castes constitute the bulk of India's population, and these lower castes are also the ones who don't have access to education, don't have access to good nutrition, health," Prof Sen says.
"That has meant that a large part of India's population hasn't been able to take part in sport, and hasn't had access to sporting facilities."
There is one sport in which India does, of course, excel: cricket. The huge money professional teams can invest means the best athletes are almost inevitably drawn towards the wicket, draining the pool available for other sports.
Now, private companies are stepping in to try to fill the gaps in funding for Olympic sports.
They are following the example of countries such as Australia and the UK, which have dramatically increased their medal count by investing in elite selection and training programmes.
It has been estimated that each medal the UK won in 2012 cost £4.5m.
Maneesh Bahuguna, of Anglian Medal Hunt, which is funding a number of predominantly disprivileged athletes, including Dutee Chand, believes its efforts will - in time - deliver results.
"What we bring to the table for these athletes is the ability to bridge the gap between those best practices that are unavailable to them otherwise and the final performance at the Olympic Games," Mr Bahuguna says.
"We improve their conditioning, physical and mental, by leaps and bounds."
India is fielding its best-trained and biggest-ever team in Rio.
It is hoping to deliver on the promise of the country's vast population, reaping rewards on the winner's podium.
Olympic losers: Why is India so bad at sport?
Why does the world's second most populous nation have the worst Olympic record in terms of medals per head?
www.bbc.com
Jackdaws
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Cricket - yes, you are right. Soccer is quite popular, especially among the girls. And USA has a pretty decent men's team too.
Let's take Pakistan. I had the pleasure of watching Jansher Khan play at a club in Bombay in the 1980s. If you go by the Chinese narrative, his achievements are negligible compared to some Chinese chap who won a medal jumping up and down on a trampoline in the Olympics. Squash may not be a top spectator sport but it still has a niche global following.
OppositeDay
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When did Vijay Amritraj retire? We're not talking ancient history ain't we?
So please tell me how did you reach your conclusion that India was one of the best at tennis in Asia while China was a laggard, when China's only slight behind India in men's tennis and much ahead of India in women's tennis. It's either you didn't care about women's tennis or you didn't understand how to count ranking numbers. Your choice.
Jackdaws
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Fairly simple - For men - number of ATP titles won. Achievements in Davis Cups. Wins over Top 10 players. Highest Rankings reached.
Yes, Chinese women have done better than Indian women in tennis. As I said, I specifically mentioned the achievements of Li Na in this regard. Why did you think she as a woman was not important enough for you to pay attention to that post?
White and Green with M/S
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I already said dude these sports are not popular, cricket is also not true global sport like soccer, tell me outside Australia/Newzeland/Subcontinent and few African/EU countries who likes and watch cricket in the world???
Jackdaws
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For China sporting history might be part of their "century of humiliation" as the Chinese call it - we are quite proud of our sporting heroes through the years including Amritraj. Just like Sweden is proud of Borg or the Germans are proud of Becker. Maybe the Chinese think differently.
beijingwalker
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In Asia China dominates most sports, but Chinese people pay little interest in Asian games. gold medals are taken for granted for Chinese athletes for most events so Asian Games are so boring.
Jackdaws
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By that yardstick, only soccer is a truly global sport.
Every other sport has geographical limitations. Having said that Cricket is the only sport where the World Cup has been won by a country in Australia, by countries in Asia, by a country in Europe and by a country in the Americas. Heck, even Africa has come pretty close. Can't even say that about soccer.
OppositeDay
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Oh, quite determined to rest on past laurels ain't you?
And no I never claimed that you didn't mention Li Na. My question was why did you claim India was one of the best in Asia and China was a laggard in tennis when China did much better in women's tennis than India. That you specially mentioned Li Na actually makes this discrepancy more glaring, because it shows you were well aware of Chinese strength in women's tennis yet still chose to ignore it when you were comparing China with India.
White and Green with M/S
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Athletics is the universal game of the world unlike your top 5 famous games
beijingwalker
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Tennis at the Asian Games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tennis is part of the Asian Games program. It has been played at each edition of the games since 1958, with the exception of 1970. Men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles have been contested each time. Men's and women's team events have been contested since 1962.
China joined Asian Games in 1974
Medal table[edit]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tennis is part of the Asian Games program. It has been played at each edition of the games since 1958, with the exception of 1970. Men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles have been contested each time. Men's and women's team events have been contested since 1962.
China joined Asian Games in 1974
Medal table[edit]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
| 27 | 18 | 46 | 91 |
| 2 | 
| 16 | 21 | 18 | 55 |
| 3 | 
| 15 | 19 | 20 | 54 |
| 4 | 
| 15 | 5 | 21 | 41 |
| 5 | 
| 9 | 6 | 17 | 32 |
| 6 | 
| 7 | 7 | 11 | 25 |
| 7 | 
| 5 | 6 | 10 | 21 |
| 8 | 
| 3 | 9 | 14 | 26 |
| 9 | 
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
| 10 | 
| 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
Jackdaws
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In democratic nations, one looks at sporting heroes through the ages. For the Americans Babe Ruth and Jordan will hold a special place, for the Aussies it is Don Bradman. Now I understand the Communist nations might have a different line of thinking. So also in hockey, India will always look at Dhyan Chand with great respect. And the Krishnan and Amritraj families in tennis.
Again, I specifically mentioned Li Na and her achievements. You chose to ignore it.
China is of course a laggard in tennis compared to India even now based on rankings -
Davis Cup - Rankings
The official website of Davis Cup features news, live scores, results, videos and photos from the largest annual team competition in sport.
www.daviscup.com
And let's not forget you lied and stated that China was the top team in Asia in basketball when it is ranked #4 in the Asia Pacific zone. Also how come it has a losing record even in basketball against India?
Not famous. Popular.
Tennis at the Asian Games
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tennis is part of the Asian Games program. It has been played at each edition of the games since 1958, with the exception of 1970. Men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles have been contested each time. Men's and women's team events have been contested since 1962.
China joined Asian Games in 1974
Medal table[edit]
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 27 18 46 91 2 16 21 18 55 3 15 19 20 54 4 15 5 21 41 5 9 6 17 32 6 7 7 11 25 7 5 6 10 21 8 3 9 14 26 9 2 3 6 11 10 1 1 3 5
beijingwalker
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But Indians believe the Olympic Games are communist propaganda, lol..
Jackdaws
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Is that what's written in the little Red Book?
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