Former India men's national team captain Sunil Chhetri is known for giving his honest opinions in regards to sport in the country. The Bengaluru FC star always speaks his mind when it comes to the sporting culture in India and this time he delivered his blunt take on the country's lack of success at the Olympics. (More Football News)
As India looks to overhaul their best-ever medal tally (7 at Tokyo Olympics) in Paris, Chhetri explained why India's 1.5 billion population isn't enough to produce enough Olympic-medal-winning athletes.
In a podcast, Chhetri said that India is down in the pecking order as far as medals are concerned because of its lack of success in identifying and nurturing talent at the grassroots level.
"We don't win medals (at the Olympics) despite a population of 1.5 billion is not factually correct because we are not able to identify and nurture the talent of 1.5 billion people. China, US, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada - the ones who do well in the Olympics -- are miles better than us," said Chhetri on the podcast.
Check the viral clip here -
The veteran footballer feels the 1.5 billion population should be able to produce more and more talents but the lack of nurturing is what is required if we are to go to the next level.
"When people say, 'talent ki kami nahi hai hamari country mei' (there is no dearth of talent in our country), it is 100 percent right. A five-year-old kid in Andaman, who was good in football or javelin throw or cricket, he didn't even know. Threw it once or twice and then disappeared, working in a call centre," Chhetri said.
Chhetri event said that he believes in speaking his mind even if it meant someone tried to 'kill him' for it.
"In identifying the talent and nurturing the talent at the right time and with the right procedure, we are way behind. And I don't care if people want to kill me for this; this is the reality."
At the ongoing Paris Olympic Games, India have so far won three medals, all of them being bronze.
