Sponsors must bat for sports other than cricket

Nine Olympic gold medals to divide across a population of 1.2 billion-that summarises the sorry state of sports in India unless, of course, it is cricket that is being spoken about. While advertising for India’s official ‘religion’ accounts for a whopping Rs 2,000 crore annually, other sports are still grappling with poor infrastructure, lack of heroes and, most importantly, a dearth of sponsors from the corporate world.

An overnight solution may be impossible but, for starters, a programme that involves big companies with schools could be the way ahead while already established sports ventures should be given a further boost. One doesn’t need to look too far for examples that need to be replicated on a larger scale. Western Railway, despite all its constraints, supports 400 athletes in more than 30 disciplines and one can only imagine the good that would come out of a company in the private sector supporting a cause like this.

“Most private sector employees only concentrate on a few games which are generally popular. Very few have thought about forming teams in less popular games like ball badminton, kho-kho, wrestling, power lifting and so on. It is of utmost importance that young players playing such sports have avenues to pursue a sport which provides them long-term stability. And even in sports that have teams, most of the players are on a ‘contract basis’ and not permanent employees,” says Diana Edulji, former Indian captain of the women’s cricket team and Arjuna Award winner, now at the helm of WR’s sporting affairs.

Former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha, now CEO of the Olympic Gold Quest venture that aims to provide selected athletes with the best to excel at the Olympics, says more needs to be done at the school level if the country has to break out of its cricket cushion. “Schools should promote a culture of outdoor sports,” he says. “The basics of the game should be taught, as team sports encourages life lessons and skills. The government has come out with a ‘Come and Play’ scheme and we definitely need more initiatives like this.”

But on a positive note, interest in sports other than cricket has been steadily increasing among followers with football, wrestling and Formula One leading the way. German auto major Mercedes-Benz, which has been sponsoring motor sports since 1894, recently tied up with Jaypee Sports to inaugurate the country’s first performance-driving academy at Buddh International Circuit in Noida-only the fourth such institute globally from Mercedes-Benz. “The new academy will offer structured programmes, cars, trainers and help groom new talent on the racing circuit,” says Debashish Mitra, director, marketing and sales, Mercedes.

Several stakeholders in the sports world, though, feel that what is required from sponsors is support for district-, state- and national -level games along with a provision for stable jobs. Mahindra & Mahindra, for one, has taken steps toward grass-roots development in sports with their football and basketball initiatives. It’s not the talent we lack, it’s the opportunities. As Rasquinha said, “We’re a nation of sports-watchers, we need to be a nation of sports players.”