Vikas Gowda and Indian sports

Vikas Gowda, a first class athlete of our country won the gold medal at the Asian Athletics Championship in discuss throw. I tweeted on his victory and people asked me about his sport and why sportsmen in India do not do well.
I being a sports person myself and represented the state, know a bit more of what goes behind the scenes than others. One of the most basic thing is that we do not respect sports or sports men. We think that who ever is involved in sports are dumb people or people who have a low IQ. This is the first reason that kids shy away from sports. Secondly we do not have the support system from the family. Most of our parents follow the dictum that sports cannot be a career. Therefore any child who wants to play sport professionally is not taken seriously and asked rather to concentrate on studies.
Another major flaw with the system is that at local level there is very less grooming and mentoring. Most of the clubs have third grade coaches who are morally corrupt and want to exploit students. They are also ill equipped with knowledge of physiotherapy, exercises, food routine, injuries etc. As a result the kids after a point of time loose patience and shift elsewhere. There is also a lot of corruption in the process of team selection. A vast majority of our sportsmen have played over age at some point of time or other.
Finances or the lack of it at the local levels makes it difficult for kids from humble backgrounds to pursue sports. When I played Table Tennis, a good rubber cost something around 1500 and above and that too were not easily available (in the late eighties and early nineties). Today a lot of corporates have come in and are financing various sports but still a lot has to be done. The indifference of our elected leaders and government also does not help.
The district and state level championships are in deplorable condition as the organisers are more interested in their PR and money making rather than on the sport.
But everything is not gloomy and negative. In recent times we have seen good sportsmen and women making us proud at various national and international level. Apart from cricket other sports are also becoming popular.
Sports is a great leveler and it teaches fighting spirit, discipline and accepting defeat gracefully. I hope that in my life time I am able to give something back to the sporting fraternity which has given me a lot.