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Sports Training in India Must be More Organized

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Chennaiyin FC ISL India

Photo courtesy of Chennaiyin FC Facebook

With the numbers India has in terms of population, success in professional sports shouldn’t be as difficult as it has been for so long. Indian legendary athlete P T Usha made public comments expressing his concern towards the way sports has been organized for youth, especially in schools.

“There is no dearth of talent in our country, but we need to make sports training systematic by including sports as a subject in schools and encourage children for taking up sports,” Usha said. “It will help us in producing quality players.”

Usha, known for his success as a sprinter, was in Rajkot participating in an athletic/sports talent search organized by the Sports Authority of Gujarat. The local government has signed an MoU with Usha School of Athletics to help put together the program.

Having become the first Indian woman to reach the final of an Olympic event, Usha is still regarded as one of the greatest athletes ever produced by India.

“Nearly 300 children from the city took part in the talent identification test and 12 of them were shortlisted for the next round of selection,” the ‘queen of Indian track and field’ said.

A similar search will also be held in  Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara on November 11, 12 and 13, respectively.

Those youth selected by the committee will receive training by Usha at Vadodara’s Manjalpur Athletics Academy.

While programs like this definitely help target talent at a young age, the more pressing concern is that there aren’t opportunities always available to children when in school. More leagues need to form for children, more local camps. The government can certainly help put together a large event, but for children to truly develop into athletes, more organized ventures have to be in place year-round.

Rohit Ghosh is a Senior Writer for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @RohitGhosh. “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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