Olympic losers: Why is India so bad at sport?

[CHN Bamboo]

China's sport started off way before the economy reached the blanket of "middle income".
Sometimes, it's not really about incomes.

Let me give u an example, there is a cultural spot in Beijing called Heaven Temple which used to be the emperors' prayer temple. There is a huge park around the temple. This park is very famous among foreign visitors who come to this park not just for the temple, but to see local Beijinger doing morning exercises. These people are not rich at all, they are not in some sort of sport clubs or investing big money on sport facilities. They have been doing this since the opening of this park to the public during 1910s after the last emperor abdicated.

We also have a huge park called Dr. Sun Yat Sen park in my city (in the interior of China), one of the biggest parks in downtown. It was opened in 1920s, ever since it has become one of the most popular exercising playgrounds in the city for those who cannot afford those fancy sport facilities. In the morning and after dinner, the park is some sort of congested!

Dr. Sun Yat Sen park
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And we have more parks built after 1949, such as Liberation Park which is way bigger than Dr. Sun Park serving the people living in the north, don't mention Moon Lake Park, East Lake Park, etc! And now we have a lot of grand projects to build more parks and sport facilities in the suburbs serving the new city dwellers.

Moon Lake Park

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Yangtze River bank
all kinds of faculties available
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Tangxun Lake, suburb
Has the most tennis courts
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Our life expectancy has already surpassed 80 year old though our income is way behind Coastal China. And Wuhan is a very industrious city with air pollution problems (we have 10 million people in the city, and one of the biggest steel companies in the world). With the improvement of environment (steel is not longer the top industry in the city, but high-tech zones), incomes and medical system, average life expectancy is esteemed to reach 82-83 in 2020s.
@Chinese Bamboo @dy1022
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I prefer to exercise in a gym rather than play outdoors..

Because exercising in a gym makes you free from weather restriction.

Moreover,park is further than the gym which is located in my community.

 

[RepublicOk]

Bad sports infrastructure and nepotism in sports bodies. Politicians or people with close connection to politicians are heads of almost all sports organizations in India.

 

[AndrewJin]

I prefer to exercise in a gym rather than play outdoors..

Because exercising in a gym makes you free from weather restriction.

Moreover,park is further than the gym which is located in my community.

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I'm not saying, such clubs and gyms are not important.
My examples were to explain how to make a difference when many people could not afford such clubs.
Yes, most younger generations in China prefer clubs, so do I.
Within 1-2km from my apartments, we have an array of choices.
Many of my neighbours' children are actually in the ice hockey club.
Some of my relatives in Northeast China are in local curling clubs which are very popular in Northern China, inspired by Chinese curling team's excellent performances in the international games (we were among top3 in Vancouver, and definitely the best in Asia-Pacifc). The coming Zhangjiakou-Beijing Winter Olympics will be encouraging millions of Chinese to take part in winter games.

1 km from my home

 

[Shotgunner51]

I'm not saying, such clubs and gyms are not important.
My examples were to explain how to make a difference when many people could not afford such clubs.
Yes, most younger generations in China prefer clubs, so do I.
Within 1-2km from my apartments, we have an array of choices.
Many of my neighbours' children are actually in the ice hockey club.
Some of my relatives in Northeast China are in local curling clubs which are very popular in Northern China, inspired by Chinese curling team's excellent performances in the international games (we were among top3 in Vancouver, and definitely the best in Asia-Pacifc). The coming Zhangjiakou-Beijing Winter Olympics will be encouraging millions of Chinese to take part in winter games.

1 km from my home
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Yep the coming 2022 Winter Olympics is creating a lot of awareness on winter sports, on the demand side more and more kids are playing like in ski resorts, skating rings, for bankers-investors it's a new growth sector.

 

[AndrewJin]

Yep the coming 2022 Winter Olympics is creating a lot of awareness on winter sports, on the demand side more and more kids are playing like in ski resorts, skating rings, for bankers-investors it's a new growth sector.

I know you are a bloody banker....
Any ideas on winter sports industry and ice/snow tourism in Asia?

 

[Dungeness]

Developing countries are way behind in terms of Sports Infrastructure.

Including China which is also lagging in terms of gold medals per capita.

Imagine how many Ye Shiwen's and Sun Yang's there are in rural China, but without swimming pools and good trainers how will anyone know their potential?

It is not only about infrastructure. Indian military are well funded, but have they won anything in Russian Military Olympic Games in the past?

 

[Shotgunner51]

I know you are a bloody banker....
Any ideas on winter sports industry and ice/snow tourism in Asia?

Yeah but I am on mobile now so maybe later, all kids related biz, leisure sports biz, are hot.

 

[Dungeness]

Sports comes last.. first is studies we dont have anything for unemployed people. Government pays less to athletes. Only gods we know are cricket gods rest sports are meh. Parents also encourage people to do more in studies rather than in sports.

Probably see why we rank so low. If anything, it's a miracle we produce any world class non cricketing sports persons at all. Besides, culturally, how much effort do we put into sports and physical fitness in general?

God knows how many potential milkha singhs are just sitting in a sarkari office stamping documents like duds... or struggling away somewhere to make ends meet.

But you performed so badly on PISA.

 

[punit]

But you performed so badly on PISA.

whats PISA ? will winning it result in admission in good colleges/universities or better job prospects?

 

[Dungeness]

whats PISA ? will winning it result in admission in good colleges/universities or better job prospects?

What university? Anything in top 100 in the world?

 

[punit]

What university? Anything in top 100 in the world?

the one which can give job.

 

[Dandpatta]

One thing you will see prevalent in East Asia is that people are more agile and quick on the foot. By a common average, you will find more people jogging in East Asia, compared to Indian subcontinent. In India, many morning exercise groups tend to focus more on walking than running.

In China's case, faclities or no facilities, people of all age groups have been active. Back in the 70s - 80s, many people would do Taichi and also engage in group dancing (waltz / balroom dance as a form of exercise). Whole squares were full of men and women who were into this healthy activity. In more modern times, as ANdrew Jin has already documented, thousands of people come out and do physically active sports because facilities are there.

In India - the biggest sin we have is Cricket. It is a game that does not involve too much of running (at any given time, 11 players stand around and occasionally one of them runs around to chase a ball..) It cannot be compared to any other game like football / rugby / volleyball where almost all players are on the move at any given time.

Food too is a big factor. Indians tend to go heavy on starchy/wheat gluten / high fat content foods. And the attrocity that we Indians bring upon ourselves is LATE NIGHT dinners and immediate bed time. Outside of Indian subcontinent, especially East of India, people generally tend to eat dinners at 6-7 pm and then go to bed after a light snack. Our eating habits - This brings us to the heavier side of weight and a totally damaging digestive rhythm.

 

[RisingShiningSuperpower]

Could it be possible that Indians are physically weaker on a genetic level?

 

[Shotgunner51]

But you performed so badly on PISA.

Pattern of PISA results exactly coincides with that of IQ, it's an intelligence topic not physical, so let's focus on Indian sporting results (or the lack of it) here bro.

Thanks!

 

[SparrowJack]

Could it be possible that Indians are physically weaker on a genetic level?

The whites are genetically weaker than the black,the whites are going quite good in sports so it's not about genes

On a different note,why are the Chinese physically weak in a literal sense?
They don't grow beyond 5.2 ft
An average Indian or Pakistani will look a giant in front of a Chinese ...is it bcuz of the genes?