In a country of a billion people, only 2,500 children take part in competitive sports

Mr. C.G.K. Bhupati, junior tennis star of yore, more famous today as the father of Mahesh Bhupati and as the person who groomed Sania Mirza, speaks at the last meeting

The most frequently-asked question in India is this: how come we have over a billion people but not one world champion in any sport?

An interesting answer to this was provided at the last meeting by Mr. C.G.K. Bhupati, junior tennis star of yesteryears and more famous today as the father of Mahesh Bhupati and as the person who groomed Sania Mirza.

In the course of his talk on .Grooming tennis talent in India., he said this was an unfair question because in a country of a billion people, hardly 2,500 children took part in competitive sports or had a burning ambition to make a mark at the international level.

Millions of youngsters were extremely talented but either did not wish to pursue a game or were deterred by the lack of facilities and opportunities.

"We have a lot of people in positions where they can make a difference but they are not making a difference. But I think we should now look at what can we do from here on to take sports forward."

Resources were no longer a problem and Indian tennis had a very rich heritage. Tennis here was not played the way it was in Spain or elsewhere, but Indians played well enough .to beat the best in the world, because we play tennis with our structure in mind and with our intelligence in mind. This structure has worked for 60 years; it may not be the best, but we do have something."

Introducing him, Pradeep Saxena said Mr. Bhupati used to possess a terrific double-handed backhand. But like most people of those times he found that there was no money in sports and so became a banker; he worked with Chartered Bank for 27 years.

Today, his son Mahesh in partnership with Leander Paes and other players (both male and female), had won many doubles titles at the Grand Slam and other events.

Mr. Bhupati, who runs a tennis academy in Bangalore, started his talk by saying that it was a historic day for India which had won the first Twenty20 World Cup Cricket tournament (the day before).

Like many Indian businessmen and industrialists, the cricketers had shown that they could win at the highest level of competition . whether it was steel, industry, IT, cricket or tennis. The message was loud and clear and Dhoni and his boys had given India a great gift.

TALENT HAS TO BE SPOTTED EARLY AND NURTURED WELL, SAYS BHUPATI

Facing a volley of questions, Mr. Bhupati "returns" all of them with his famed double-handed backhand

At his tennis academy in Bangalore there were at least six children who could become international players. They might not emulate topclass players like Sania Mirza or Roger Federer, but they were talented enough to get into the top 100.

Historically, tennis as a sport suited Indians who had difficulty playing rugby or other touch sports because of their (body) structure. But Indians could do well in tennis, golf, archery and shooting.

If India wanted to excel at the international level, it would have to invest in sports in which Indians could actually perform at that level. "That's how our investment should be, whether human investment or financial investment."

Thanks to the booming economy, things were changing rapidly; the market place was different, as was the economy, and it was not possible to have professional sports like tennis, golf, cricket or even shooting being managed by non-professionals in honorary positions.

But Mr. Bhupati said the nonprofessionals could not be wished away and would remain ensconced in their sinecures so that they could take care of requirements other than sports. Increasingly, technical specialists would have to be brought in.

A lot of financial support was coming from industry and it was no longer necessary to make requests or pass the hat around as had to be done in the past. Today, industrialists called and said they wanted to support tennis and asked for proposals.

"We have to come up with wellplanned programmes because the industrialist is not going to put down even one dollar unless he is absolutely sure that the end result is plausible, if not guaranteed.

"But the most important factor is children. Talented children have to be spotted and picked up. We have to go to the districts and pick up the Milkha Singhs and the Kapil Devs . six, seven, eight or nine-year-old children. Bring them together, make a big pool and have this talented critical mass from which a few can actually become international."

Another factor was parental thinking. Parents wanted their children to succeed in whatever field they chose. As a result, they went in the direction of "least risk and highest rewards", which could be education or any other vocation that was less risky and afforded better chances of doing well.

Most parents believed that sport was an extremely risky field, that if their children went for sports they would not pay attention to their education and that would affect their future.

Mr. Bhupati revealed that three generations of his family had been in sports. His father had insisted that all children play sports. Thus, Mahesh's debut on a tennis court was "not the result of 20 years of hard work,but of over 80 to 85 years of hard work".

Some parents sent their children to play sports so that they stayed away from trouble, did not acquire bad habits, stayed outdoors during the day and did not become addicted to cartoon films.

What happened when a boy or girl did go for sports and started playing, say, tennis? If they played tournaments at the district or State level, then that assured them a seat in a college of their choice, thanks to the so-called "sports quota".

If they managed to play at the national level, then the prospects were even better. Every State had medical and engineering colleges with separate "quotas" for sports "achievers". So the child could stop playing at the age of 16 or 17 and start studying to become a doctor or an engineer.

And if they continued playing well, they could become Davis Cup players. This would take them to the international stage. Even if they did not get into the Davis Cup team, they could easily qualify to get a US tennis scholarship worth $150,000 to $200,000 to go and get their undergraduate education there.

In sum, playing tennis could take one places. The risks were not too high and the rewards were quite wholesome.

Mr. Bhupati gave the example of one such recipient of an American undergraduate tennis scholarship. His name was Somdev Burman and he would soon figure in the top 100.

"Believe me, he will be in the top 100 and will be a bigger name than Leander, Mahesh or Sania in the very near future. That will be fantastic for Indian tennis. We will have both a boy and a girl playing in the top 100."

Continuing the story of the US undergraduate tennis scholarship, Mr. Bhupati said if the boy/girl was unable to get onto the international stage, then he or she could continue with graduation and then do an MBA or a CPA.

"You could take a big executive position, come back to India, no questions asked. There's no way you can lose. This is what we hope our children do. If parents believe that the risk is low, then they should go for it."

'India lacks competitive tourneys at the grassroots level'

Coming back to more mundane matters, Mr. Bhupati said the most essential requirement was a sustained coaching system. India had good coaches up to the junior and even the tournament level. But because nobody was franchising coaching, there was a shortage of coaches.

What about practice facilities? Grooming a player for the international level required six hours of practice every day. One had to be a member of Bombay Gymkhana or CCI for that, but even those clubs would not allow the use of their courts for such long hours.

Faced with a similar problem, Spain, Argentina, Columbia and other South American countries simply went ahead and built courts in villages, districts and towns.

"And because the courts are there, the children are going to play, and because children are playing, people who could play earlier took to teaching tennis. So it became a vocation. And now we have so many players from those countries."

France had a similar problem after Yannick Noah, Jean Forget and others; it had no player in the top 100. So it followed the Spanish model and built courts right across the country. Today, 20 French boys and girls featured in the top 100 in the world.

"I don't think the Federations can do it (in India). Sports organisations must get in and make courts and donate them in public parks or wherever. That's where the critical mass will be possible."

Staff for physical training; sports medicine; mental toughness; these were areas in which India lagged behind. But now efforts were being made to send professionals abroad for training.

"The idea is to have home-grown champions in the future. We have had champions but they were not homegrown. It is time for shining India to have home-grown champions."

Mr. Bhupati lamented the fact that inter-school and inter-college sports tournaments had become things of the past. It was necessary to have competitions at the grassroots level so that talented children (who lacked facilities or tournaments to compete in) did not leave the sport.

The Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) had just four courts. During a tournament, if there were 60 children playing, they were told to come at 7.00 am for the first round matches. But since only eight could play at a time, the others had to bide their time, sometimes for eight to ten hours at a stretch.

"As a parent you have to take your eight year old child there and have to wait from morning to evening. How many days in a month can you do that? So you will say, enough of tennis, read Shakespeare."

The vote of thanks was proposed by Nandan Maluste.

Top