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Sports & subcontinent

Last 2 weeks have been amazing for sport lovers in India. Commonwealth games and India-Australia Test series. Both provided enthralling contest and tight finishes. I really enjoyed see-saw battle for 2nd place in medals table between India & England. Hope some of this success translates into Olympic medals.

Talking about medals table, bbc provided two interesting tables along with normal table. It showed population per medal & GDP per medal. India of course was very much at the bottom in both these tables, in spite of healthy medals tally and it was expected. We always lament about India's inability to get medals in spite of huge population. (Indian story has always been about volumes game n never per capita, especially in economy. But that's different story.)

So coming back to the medals table by population & GDP, 4 out of bottom 5 countries in both tables are India, Bangladesh, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. All south asian countries. Bangladesh is at bottom in both these tables with just 1 bronze medal with population of 160 million, 1/6th of India. Still they have managed just 1 bronze. Pakistan another country from subcontinent has won 5 medals, with 2 golds. What's the thing with south asian countries that they are unable to win medals in sporting competition? They are richer than African countries which regularly win medals, if that is an excuse. They are physically similar to Chinese, Koreans if physique is to be excuse. So where lies the problem? Is it just that sport is not part of culture in subcontinent? Question to ponder about!

Labels: musings, sport, views

posted by ninad @ 1:38 am