India Gave Its Best at Tokyo Olympics, But How Can We Be A Global Force in Sports?

With a gold, two silvers and four bronzes, the Indian team has given the country the highest medal tally ever in Tokyo Olympics 2020. Not just that, we have seen some record-breaking moments from our athletes with the Indian Women’s Hockey Team playing its first-ever Olympics semi-finals. Celebrations were in order. But once we saw the dozens of medals being won by other countries, the joy and satisfaction quickly became a story of a glass half-full or half-empty — depending on the mood. The half-full people remain delighted that India delivered its finest performance ever this year. But the half-empty glass critics asked why are our medal tallies lower than countries which only one-tenth of our population. In this episode, your host Shailaja Chandra asks experts – Do the Indian sport federations that actually manage individual sports have the leadership and resilience needed to be able to excel? How do the federations excel in other countries? Is the funding for sports really sufficient? And how does one get more families to treat sports as something worth trying for and excelling in? Tune in! Host: Shailaja Chandra Guests: Neelam Kapur, former Director General of the Sports Authority of India; Shashank Atreya, lawyer specialising in sports law; Rani Rampal, captain of the Women’s Hockey Team Producer: Shorbori Purkayastha Editor: Shelly Walia Music: Big Bang Fuzz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices