Path to Olympics glory: India needs to focus on just one sport

India’s four medals in London already represent the country’s biggest haul in its Olympic history, but to put the solitary silver and three bronze in perspective, Great Britain, a country with 1/20th the population, won seven golds in just one discipline – Track Cycling.

Yet within that dichotomy lies an opportunity. India cannot (and should not) institute a China or Soviet Union-style sports program. It has neither the authoritarian government structure nor the resources to do so. What India can (and should) do instead is focus its efforts on one or perhaps two disciplines to create a pool of world class competitors.

This is not a new strategy, of course. A number of countries have won a disproportionate amount of their medals from one sport. As a recent article in The Atlantic points out, Turkey has won over two-thirds of its medals in wrestling while all but one of Jamaica’s over 50 medals has come from Track & Field. Cuba has typically dominated the boxing ring while Kenya and Ethiopia have produced an assembly line of middle and long distance runners.

The strategy is not limited to developing countries either. The GB team has become the track cycling powerhouse of the world, winning fourteen golds over two Olympics, while Australia and swimming success have been synonymous for decades.

The question then is to identify the discipline that would give India the best chance of success; one that fits the Indian psyche and provides an opportunity to win a number of medals. The answer is perhaps less obvious than it should be: shooting. There were 45 medals up for grabs across 15 men’s and women’s events at the 2012 Games. China scooped up seven of those, while South Korea and Italy picked up five each. More importantly, four of India’s last eight Olympic medals have come in shooting.

Two of the most important qualities for a champion shooter, according to two-time US Olympic gold medalist Lones Wigger, are above average intelligence and a strong mind. “Shooters must be able to think for themselves, analyze fully the techniques involved, weigh all courses of action and make the right decisions concerning development and training during the mechanical learning phase,” Wiggins writes in What Makes a Champion Shooter. “In the mental learning phase they must train to exercise complete control over mind and body to cope with match pressure in order to produce the results necessary to become a champion.”

In other words, it is all in the mind. And the mind is one area where Indians have a natural disposition to excel. Generations of students have inculcated a natural aptitude of cramming for exams and coping with the pressure of getting into IIT or IIM. Training a group of shooters will require a shift of focus to a physical activity, but it requires the same aptitude for long hours spent in concentration, of learning and repeating, and finally of executing under pressure.

The same philosophy applies to archery, where another 12 medals were on offer, four of which went to South Korea. Theoretically, if India can match the South Korea’s level of proficiency, that means a total of nine medals, or double their haul from 2012 in just two disciplines.

India currently has 18-year-old Deepika Kumari, the World No1 in their ranks, to use to sell the sport of archery. Shooting has many heroes, starting with Abhinav Bindra, and now Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar.

Bindra famously has a chapter in his autobiography titled Mr Indian official: Thanks for nothing. Although badminton and boxing are getting the lion’s share of attention at the moment, this is the chance for those same shooting officials to redeem themselves and for India to make a bigger mark on the Olympic stage in Brazil in 2016.