...because the youth have neither the infrastructure nor the luxury of time and support to pursue sports as a career. Grooming themselves to be a champion here is a dream too far.
The state of affairs of Namma Bengaluru—with little scope for children to exercise their physical abilities owing to lack of space and misdirected dietary schedules—may explain why ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh’s dream of seeing an Indian win an Olympic gold medal in athletics may remain just that: a dream.
This is the irony that hurts: There is no dearth of space in the vast rural outback of the country, but a proper dietary schedule is hard to get there.
But urban children, who have all the dietary requirements at their disposal face, an acute shortage of space, leading them to indulge in sedentary lifestyles that keeps them from turning out champs and ending up either obese or malnourished for a champion’s requirement. This may keep India from developing champions in more sports than just cricket, hockey and tennis, for a long time to come.
Sadly, although these sports, besides soccer, are more cherished by Indians, a billion-plus population with a median age of 26.2 years, has failed to throw up the much-needed champions in more number of sports than just a handful; not to speak of winning gold medals at world events despite the huge human resource.
The source of the problem may lie here. A recent study focusing on Indian urban children by the National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation indicated a shocker: Childhood obesity was noticed more among urban families in India having high family incomes and high levels of education among the parents of these children.
This means education had not helped spread fitness awareness among the more affluent who would actually possess the financial power to ensure that their children emerge as champions in one sport or the other.
What is supporting this malady in Bangalore is the acute shortage of space for children and teenagers to indulge in active outdoor sports. Not to mention that this is compounded by poor diet, characterised by the junk food-fast food culture while aping the youth in the West.
Space-wise, the situation was much better even a decade ago. The city offered a huge space at Palace Grounds, which is now catering to exhibitions, weddings, conferences and fests, more business-driven with an eye on generating revenues—no longer anything for children and youth as far as outdoor sports is concerned.
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