Doing Sports in India

As a business, the institutional roots need strengthening

Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth’s stunning victories in the Indonesian Super Series Premier and Australian Open this year are certainly worthy of celebration, but they should also provoke some introspection on the need to strengthen the institutional foundations of the country’s sports industry so that India becomes a more consistent performer on the global stage. Indeed, badminton is a good example of these challenges. The two women Olympians Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, and the three top men’s players Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy — of whom the first two have bagged three of the six Super Series