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India must reward performance if it wants to make progress in measurable sports like athletics and swimming. Indian authorities continue to reward only medals, completely ignoring performances that will ultimately lead to medals.
In measurable sports like athletics and swimming, for example, we have had only one man, the outstanding Neeraj Chopra, win two Olympic medals, and in swimming we are, say, 20 years away, maybe.
Neeraj Chopra delighted all of India with his gold medal in the javelin in Tokyo 2021, photo by Getty Images
Now, at a stage where no one is winning medals, and all states have budgeted money to pay medallists, does it not make sense to reward performances that lead up to medals?
Take, for example, Anju Sojan, who broke a 22-year-old record; Anju Bobby George, Kerala, could easily have rewarded her.
Similarly, Sarvesh Kushare became India’s first man to clear over 2.30 m in the high jump; Maharashtra could have rewarded him.
Snam Barwal broke a 48-year-old record of Shivnath Singh’s 48-year-old marathon record; Uttarakhand could reward him.
Vishal broke 45 seconds in the 400 m; Tamil Nadu could reward him.
Tejaswin Shankar, the first Indian above 8000 points, could be rewarded by Delhi. This will not only help the athlete immensely but also inspire the next generation. These are simple, proactive steps India could take on the journey to become a world power, rather than saying we will become one in 2036.
Meanwhile, athletes shouldn’t be disheartened; have self-belief that India will be world beaters even if the authorities are not listening.