Indian Olympic medal winners get goodies only after they win - but not for basic preparations

The way India looks at a major sports event like the Olympics is totally out of sync with what other countries think and how they pursue the objective of bringing home the precious gold, silver and bronze medals. In India, the concept is simple - once the players bring home the medals, we will glorify them still further. We will gift them cars, flats, promotions apart from cash - but, not till they prove themselves in the field.
It has happened in the past and this year is no exception. The three women who have done India proud are PV Sindhu (shuttle), Sakshi Malik (wrestling) and Dipa Karmakar (gymnastics). Dipa did not make it to the medal but proved her worth. SAme with Lalita Babar (steeplechase). But, Sindhu has already been promised Rs 13 crore and Sakshi Rs 5.6 crore, while Lalita and Dipa will be given Rs 15 lakh each.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 24 August 2016.

If these funds had been used to prepare these and other promising players in advance, the medal tally would have been better. It is during the preparation periods that funds are required. It seems the sports ministry runs a special program for improving India's medal prospects in the Olympic Games called the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme. As per this scheme and from funding through sports federations, Sindhu was given Rs 44 lakh while Sakshi got Rs 12 lakh. That's 3.4% of Sindhu's post-medal awards and 2.1% of the money Sakshi is to get. Dipa, who finished fourth in the vault, got only Rs 2 lakh for Olympic preparation under TOPS.
Out of a total of 118 athletes who represented India at Rio, 67 were funded by TOPS and received a total of Rs 17.1 crore - that is much less compared to the amounts now being showered on Sindhu and Sakshi. Incidentally, the US Olympic committee rewards American Olympians with bonus payouts of $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze - however, they invest much larger sums into the preparations.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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