+91-8595390705

International sporting events as an instrument of soft Power

02 Nov 2022 International sporting events as an instrument of soft Power

Posted at 12:39h in Daily current-affairs by
0 Likes

Significance for Prelims: Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and Tokyo olympics.

Significance for Mains: Obstacles in India’ sports architecture; Government Initiatives in sports; Way forward to improve sports governance; Concept of Soft power; Chinese strategy to attain soft power through international sporting events.

News: Good performance of Indian athletes in Tokyo Olympics and then the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) ushered in the golden era of Indian sports.

Outcomes of medals won by India in International sports events: At the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, Indian athletes won 61 medals, including 22 golds. India won seven medals at Tokyo olympics including one gold of Neeraj Chopra.

  • It provided pride to every Indian citizen.
  • It demonstrates the country’s soft power on the global stage 
  • It paves the way towards India’s status as a great “geopolitical actor”.

Obstacles in India’s sport architecture:

  • Poorest population-to-medal ratios in olympics: According to  “Indian Olympic medal winners: A comprehensive list” article   India just won 35 medals at the Olympics since the 1900 edition. Country with 1.3 billion-plus people,this performance is disappointing.
  • Lack of a favourable sports atmosphere to polish the skills of early-stage athletes due to low and scant exposure of Indians to sports at the elementary school level hampering India’s professional engagement in sports. 
  • Low spending on sports: India spends only three paise per day per capita on sports on the other hand China spends ₹6.1 per day per capita.
  • Politicization of Sports governance: Most sports organisations are governed by the politicians.  
  • Other major issues are absence of competent coaches,inadequate funding and lack of sports academics.

Indian initiatives:

  • Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) launched by the Ministry of Sports to improve India’s performance at the Olympics and Paralympics: It provides extra monetary assistance to athletes  and training from the best national and international coaches. 
  • NITI Aayog report in 2016: A 20-point plan to improve India’s Olympics performance.
  • High viewership of Tokyo Olympic Games attributed to the increase in viewership in India: Tokyo Olympic Games were watched by over 3.05 billion people, ‘a 74% increase in digital viewers from Rio 2016’. 

Way forward: 

  • Implement recommendations of NITI Aayog to improve things in sports: NITI Aayog recommended government efforts at the family, community to school, regional academies, State and national levels. 
  • Separation of sports from politics: Former players should lead sports organisations.
  • Memorandum of understanding(MoUs) with nations that excel in specific sports to train Indian players overseas. For example: Help from Australia and the United Kingdom can be taken for developing the talent pool in swimming. Collaborating with African countries such as Kenya for running.
  • India can also assist other countries in developing certain sports like Cricket and Kabaddi. For Example: India can positively reply to China’s request for Indian assistance in cricket development in China (Chongqing city).
  • Increase the number of athletes training under TOPS for a competitive sports climate.
  • Harnessing private investment  to develop sports infrastructure: Country’s performance in sporting events are interlinked with private investments in sports atmosphere.
  • Development of corporate sports programmes for active corporate participation and  investments in sports.  
  • Focus on Public-private partnership (PPP) model for development of basic sporting infrastructure at the district level. 
About Soft power:

  • In the late 1980s, American political scientist Joseph Nye Jr. defined “Soft power” as a  “power of attraction through culture, political ideas, and policies rather than coercion” exhibited by that military hard power.
  • Now, nations are investing in attaining soft power through international sporting events, which they are trying to achieve by investing more and doing well in elite sports. Even smaller nations increased their interest in international sporting events.
  • Soft power in itself is not an end but a means to achieve  an end.

Utilization of International sporting events as an instrument for attaining Soft power by China:

  • Research conducted by  Dongfeng Liu (International Professor of Sport Management for the Shanghai campus of the Sport Business School) showed that China’s Olympic achievement has a positive effect on its national soft power.
  • Undemocratic countries like China, Russia and North Korea having shoddy human rights records used the Olympics or other world championships for brand building and changing preception.
  • China builds “people-to-people” relations with other countries through  its superiority in elite sports. For example: China trains athletes from African countries such as Madagascar in swimming, badminton, table tennis, etc. 
  • China’s memorandum of understanding with countries helps Beijing  in building better formal relations through creating a positive impact on a wider population.

Further readings:

  1. Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)
  2. Concept of Hard Power

Source: The Hindu

Article: Soft power, the new race every country wants to win(Abhishek Srivastav; Kartike Garg)

Article Link: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/soft-power-the-new-race-every-country-wants-to-win/article65935114.ece 

Yojna IAS daily current affairs eng med 2nd November

No Comments

Post A Comment