When it comes to sport, China’s the superpower

For those obsessed with China-India comparisons, India was practically a no-show at the Asian Games, notwithstanding a few cases of individual heroics. With a medals tally nine times higher than India’s, there’s no doubt who is the world’s sports superpower.

The clinical precision with which Chinese chase their goals was obvious when they hosted the Olympics in 2008. They weren’t content with a spectacular show. They wanted to win, and they did, trouncing the US to top the medals tally. When Abhinav Bindra won the gold at the Beijing Olympics, the Indian media went overboard on his feat. It took a Chinese English newspaper, the China Daily, to bring us down to earth with a headline that said it all: ‘A nation of a billion people wins its first gold’.

India may be breathing down China’s neck in the growth sweepstakes, potential superpower status and such, but in sports that demand speed, agility and single-mindedness, it’s still at the starting post. On Tuesday, as India exuberantly celebrated its seventh gold at the Asian Games, its ‘arch rival’ had no reason to react. At the Doha Games of 2006, India ended with a mere 10 golds to China’s 166. It won’t be any different this time.

The experts predict that 2042 is when India can find itself in a position to threaten the Chinese in the sporting arena. The prediction counts for little in a rapidly changing sporting environment where cutting-edge technology and clinical focus hold the key — not who you know, and what your contacts can do for you. The long-standing quarrel between India’s sports administration bodies and athletes is a waste of energy and shifts attention from creating and promoting excellence to petty one-upmanship.

Yes, this rant is old. And it is worrying that despite being an old problem, it hasn’t been fixed yet. Superficial changes like reducing the tenure of the top federation bosses is not enough. Crores of rupees were spent on building infrastructure for the Commonwealth Games. The answers are obvious: Throw the stadiums open to the potential stars of India’s sporting future. Give them the best training money can buy. Don’t involve them in unseemly squabbles. Offer them a future that doesn’t involve plying autorickshaws.

China has given its athletes a secure roadmap. They can wear blinkers without blinking. Forget the ego, we need to learn from our neighbour. For now, we can be happy that they haven’t taken up cricket as a challenge.