Indian Billiards and Snooker champion Pankaj Advani opened up about how sporting culture in India needs to be redefined. Speaking to media on Monday, he expressed that he was disappointed to see the current situation of sports in the country where the focus is only given to Olympics and other major tournaments.
He said that we need to prepare sportspersons who can perform on a consistent basis rather than focusing on only a few tournaments. It's crucial to acknowledge their contribution at every level and not disregard it.
"We talk only about the Olympics. I don't understand that. What about the people who are continuously bringing glory to the country? Don't we have to look at consistency?" he said while talking to Times of India.
India needs more consistent performers
The 31-year-old talked about the need for reflecting on how excellence in sports is defined and measured in the country. He stressed on the fact that India needs more consistent performers rather than single time performers if it aims to become a sporting superpower in the world. There is also a dire need to change the perception of people towards sport in the country.
"If we are measuring sporting excellence based on what happens once in four years, then we really need to introspect. It's not just about the Olympics. If that was the case why don't we just compete in Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games?” he stressed.
The 16-time world champion also took a dig at the Cue Sports Federation of India. He believes that the reach of the sport can be widened to make it available to a larger number of people. And it is the sole duty of the federations to take necessary steps and actions to improve the state of the sport to make it more marketable and popular.
"Plainly put, the federations need to pull up their socks. They haven't done enough. Cue sport definitely has the capacity to become more popular. For that it needs to be televised so that people can fall in love with it,” he added.
The ace Indian cueist also felt that that Cue Sports federation can learn from the BCCI to run a sport successfully after acknowledging the fact that Cricket is the most popular sport in the country.
"Of course cricket is there - it's the no. 1 sport and I have nothing against it. In fact, other federations need to take a leaf out of BCCI on how to run a sport,” he said.
On a personal front, Advani has been doing exceptionally well where he recently won the World Billiards Championship title by beating Peter Gilchrist of Singapore.
