New Delhi: A Study on Sports Performance Assessment of Indian States reveals that Haryana occupies the Number 1 slot in promoting sports in India on account of its strong national and international performances, dominated by boxing and wrestling. It also scored points on being a Model State in terms of talent identification, policy and incentives.
Punjab and Maharashtra are ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively and Madhya Pradesh is ranked 10 with Delhi getting the 8th rank. In a first of its kind study conducted by FICCI and Winning Matters, a sports consultancy, promoted by an Olympian, a unique system called as Sports Performance Index (SPI) has been developed to rank the states.
In the sporting world, profit and loss is measured by medals won and hence in the first year, the research study, based on secondary data, was focused on a state’s contribution in terms of medals won at major national and international events between 2008-11 with a focus on the big multisport events (Olympic, Commonwealth, Asian and National Games) across 17 individual sports that contribute 85% of the medals at the Olympic Games.
Even though Manipur topped the National Games medal tally (including all sports and excluding services) it dropped to No. 5 in the SPI ranking on account of lesser medals won in the chosen 17 Olympic sports.
According to the study, most Indian States lose their top sporting talent to the Public Sector companies and hence have little international medal winning performances to their credit. The States will have to find ways to retain their top talent with the right incentives and support systems.
The report will be formally released at FICCI’s 3rd Global Sports Summit “TURF 2011” on Thursday (October 20, 2011).
The sports in which India has the best chance to win a medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games are: Shooting, Boxing, Wrestling, Archery, Tennis and Badminton.
All States need to contribute a lot more through international performances. This is highlighted by the fact that even Haryana, which finished on top, has an International SPI score less than its National SPI score.
The top 5 sports that influenced the SPI are Athletics, Shooting, Swimming, Boxing and Wrestling. While Shooting, Boxing and Wrestling influenced the SPI score based on quality of international performances, Athletics and Swimming had an influence based on the number of medals at stake at the national and international events.