ABP Ideas of India: Four top-most sporting icons of the country - Kapil Dev, Cricket Legend and Captain of 1983 World Cup Winning Team, Anju Bobby George, Olympian, Indian Long Jumper, Vice President - Athletics Federation of India, Zafar Iqbal, Former Captain - Indian Hockey Team and Leander Paes, 18 time Grand Slam Champion - on Friday deliberated on how India should move ahead in order to establish itself as a "sporting nation" and shared insights on the need of patience, perseverance and practice to make India a sporting nation.
Speaking at ABP News' flagship Ideas of India event, Kapil Dev said that in current times parents bring their kids to the ground and tell us to make them play. He also said that during his time (40 years back), this was not the scenario.
Talking about the change in the mentality of promoting sports, Kapil Dev said credit goes to the new-age parents of the country who promote their children to choose the path of sports and make it their profession.
"I would say yes we have done good in hockey particularly. In the last 30 years, we have done good but the current national team is the best I have seen in the last 30-40 years and this team has shown to the world that yes India is coming back particularly in hockey, though there is a general increase in the participation in sports by the people," Olympic gold medal winner Zafar Iqbal said in his opening remarks.
"People have started taking sports seriously and we have shown to the world that not only in hockey but in other games as well India has come up with tremendous performances in the Asian Games, Olympics, and World Cup," Iqbal said.
"Sports literacy in our country is very limited. After research, we found that it's only 5 percent in males and in women also it's less but it is increasing day by day and I am sure India is going to be strong in the sporting arena in future. The ladies' team, earlier, used to play a very shaky game but this year the women's team I feel played better than the men's team. Though they didn't win a medal, they have shown great potential," he added.
Sharing her thoughts on the participation of women in sports, Anju said that athletics is one of the toughest things in the world and the amount of training it requires is something that cannot be explained.
"India always talks about empowering women and we are going ahead in that direction. Women athletes are great fighters, they are already winning medals and I am very sure that by 2028 women will be on the top three podiums of the Olympics," Anju said.
When asked about team sport like Cricket having an easy path, Kapil Dev said that no matter if it's a solo sport or a team sport, what is important is to have passion.
"What we require in our country is the infrastructure. If you have that, then the kid will have all the rights to select the kind of sports they want to play," Kapil Dev said.
When asked, what has been the contribution of sports to the Ideas of India, 18 time Grand Slam Champion Leander Paes said, "I think sports is a great contributor to make India a healthier community. I feel that as Anju said there are only three medals in Olympics but in World Cup, which Kapil Paji has already won, there are only 11 players on the field, but when u talk of a country of 1.3 billion people, every single one of us has to do PT in our schools and through that PT in our schools, you must have seen that the knowledge of sports fitness, sports mental fitness, diet and how we carry ourselves, India has become a healthier community over the last 20 years."
"In the late 1990s, we were number one in the world in diabetes and in obesity. Both those have changed because of the efforts and the inspiration that the men on our stage here, Kapil Paji winning the World Cup and Zafar uncle winning the gold medal in the Olympics, have inspired all of us to take up sports as a serious career option," he said.
Taking about missing having an icon to look forward to, Anju Bobby said that she never used to look at anyone else and rather used to concentrate on herself. "But today, a lot of women athletes are doing incredibly well including PV Sindu, Mary Kom, Sania Mirza and they have become icons for many," Anju said.
Speaking about the importance of having icons in cricket, Kapil Dev said that it is very important to have one. "If youngsters will not have icons they will never be able to excel. In our time, Sunil Gavaskar was an icon, today Virat Kohli, Dhoni have become icons. It is very important to produce champions," Kapil Dev said adding that there were champions before Dhoni and there will be champions after Dhoni.
Speaking about the contribution of parents and the sports industry to build new champions in the country, Anju Boddy said that it should be a mutual responsibility.
"First it should be parents who should identify what their children want to play and then comes the professional aspect. Coaching centres play a key role in developing the craft of children in whatever game they play," she said.
ABP News anchor Preeti Dahiya asks Zafar Iqbal: There was this generation in hockey that was producing medals one after another from the Olympics, then in between, we did have very hard-working hockey players pouring their hearts out on the astro-turf but still they weren't producing as many results as your generation had seen. somewhere do u think hockey lost out because we did not produce those results or heroes?
"It is important to do hard work and be talented. We definitely follow icons and we learn from them but it is also important to show that level of determination and passion. It is important to follow icons but we also must try to match the level of hard work they did," Zafar replied.
When asked why India did not have another medal from tennis, Paes said, "It is funny how we keep saying that out of 1.3 billion people why didn't win a medal. I think we must look at that question and wonder how we have won so much already. What infrastructure we get in the 80s and 90s and what infrastructure we get when we were growing up. The answer will be not much. In Mumbai alone, we have 5000 cricket teams. When we look at the popularisation of the spot it comes from icons and champions who win."
"In Tennis, until 1998 we did not have a tennis court with floodlights where we could play in the evening and most of our matches are played at 8 PM under the light so how can we get used to that? In India, we do not have not one indoor tennis court. If I go to any college in America they have indoor and outdoor courts. I think infrastructure is an important thing. If you want to be a champion, you need to surround yourself with the right environment," the tennis start added.