Amidst the tremendous performances of athletes of Indian contingents at Tokyo Olympics 2020, the Confederation of Sports and Recreation Industry (CSRI) has released a survey on India’s position in the mega event, the possible number of medals and what should be done to make India secure a top rank among the medal winners. The survey was conducted in the run-up to Tokyo Olympics.
According to the survey, 36% of respondents feel that Government should give more support to federations. Regarding various support and recent initiatives by the Government of India related to Khelo India and the Fit India Movement. Interesting to see that around 30% of the respondents believed that it may not have any effect in this current Olympics but definitely will have a long term positive effect.
CSRI believes that the government should continue with similar policy initiatives and budget allocation to Sports.
“For the first time, an industry body conducted a focused survey about the ongoing Olympics. Survey had 10 pertinent questions ranging from India’s chances of in the Olympics to the Government’s sports policy. Respondents included top physical education institutions, the sports industry, sports federations, sports goods manufacturers, sports administrators, former bureaucrats, senior officers from the centre and state governments, army officers and the International Chamber of Commerce. Besides, people living outside India, sports icons and persons and Dronacharya awardees also participated in the survey. India getting medals,” Rajpal Singh, Director General, CSRI said.
Respondents were optimistic about India’s performance in Tokyo. About 57% believe that India will get 5-10 medals in this Olympics. India has already won 5 medals.
Responding to sports where India will win maximum medals, more than 50% believed that India has a good chance of winning maximum medals in shooting followed by wrestling, weightlifting, boxing and badminton.
In the question related to the top 5 countries in getting medals in the current Olympics, about 46% believed that the USA will top the medals tally, though about 41% believed that China will be at the top of the table. According to 25% of the respondents, Great Britain would be in third place.
89% of the respondents were aware of the postponement of the Olympics well in advance. Similarly, almost 40% thought that pandemic will have a long-lasting impact on sports and games whereas only 20% believed that there won’t be much impact.