I doubt that - but of course, it depends on what you consider poverty. All international numbers and reports circle around a quarter of a billion people give or take some. In the 18-25% range of the population.
I think Saina is mentioned because she has made it big in regards to salary (or rather, income - I mistakenly wrote salary in my first post, I meant income). She's by far the best payed India badminton player, best payed in the league, and with a tremendous net worth by now. Apparently she's only overshadowed by the two greats (LCW and LD). She's worth more now, than the entire Danish national team. The salaries in the new league in India are very high - salary caps are high - weekly salaries for participating players are high... And that's the case for most of the Indian leagues. Someone mentioned that there are no salaries from the state/country/organizations - but that's not really true. Apart from different payouts and awards, etc, you have TOPS (40 Cr/year for some 70 athletes) and NSDF (100 Cr / year), and other programs. But leagues alone are making it very popular for foreign players to come visit (tennis, badminton, football, etc.). The money is there clearly, which should start to draw the right kind of attention and talent development. Also, you have much better options for sponsorships playing a huge sport in a huge country - compared to playing it in any European country...
The last approximately 30 years (8 olympics) India has gotten 12 medals, one of gold. 2012 was 6 of those medals (no gold). This year, they have by far the largest group of participants ever (120+ compared to the norm of 50-80).
It's a bit of all three points you menioned. Add to that that there is no systematic training approach and lack of good facilities and coaches. In India sports is seen primarily as a form of entertainment. Not an area to compete and demonstrate to the world your skills. You will find a lot of kids playing in the streets, but very few of those kids are playing to be a professional. For example, in neighbour China there are olympic schools that prepare kids scientifically from a very young age. There is no such thing in India. The total number of professional players in India is much less than in many other countries. It's funny because the only people who ever talk about cast are those who are not Indians. Come and live in India. Nobody talks about cast. India is one of the most diverse and diversity accepting places on earth. I have seen many outsiders believe that most hindus drink cow piss. I have never known anyone who drinks cow piss. If a handful do that in a country of 1.3 billion, it doesn't mean it is the norm. There are a lot of myths surrounding India. This. Until recently football was only popular in Bengal, Goa, Kerala and North-East. And we weren't always this bad in football. Very few know that India once came 4th in olympics and once qualified for world cup too, but couldn't play because of lack of proper shoes. But while the rest of the world has moved ahead, we fell behind.
I think they run with $2 daily purchase power... And I agree that even above that, you're in poverty - at least from the perspective we discussion here (ability to pick up a sport and get scouted). Of course it depends on the sport. I mean, look at Kenyan runners, most being scouted from back when they ran 10 km barefooted as children to get to school... Badminton is not an option for those many millions of people.
Well. The big difference is probably that in some sports, if you excel and win a gold medal, you're more or less set for life. You have the big India sport leagues, that really have plenty of money to attract more or less anyone. Look at how much Del Pierro made for each game he played. The biggest stars in tennis played. In badminton it's the same - Saina is making many crore, not just lakhs. I know hockey is big in India, and I suppose there are a lot of pro players that can earn a living. But in most countries, it's a pure amateur sport. To me it's borderline in regards of being prestigious. For India - yes. For Europe/North America - no. I wouldn't be able to name a single known hockey player. But I know that probably 800.000.000 Indian people would!
You are taking everything as granted :-(. I said what is the situation prevailing here. But you are mixing it up with TOPS scheme (this scheme is only for current olympians). How many are there in Olympics from india for each sport ?. What about remaining? And also, the professional badminton players are not paid in terms of salaries(per month) as if it happens in China or malaysia . Everybody need to work hard and win titles. They are getting jobs from various government organisations (Railways, Bharat Petroleum etc. If not, they won't receive anything). As i spoke to professional badminton player from india, i came to know the situation. Money will not go for all . Only to very very very few players . So , for remaining people?. Saina is different. She earned her credits by herself. Once in an interview, her father said that saina earns more money in a year than he earned in his whole career. Besides , he is a scientist. Still her determination towards this sport is marvellous. If you don't find any sparring partners, if you don't find any player of your level, if you have enormous amount of money, if you feel enough, you can't get yourself motivated. Besides, she is doing an extraordinary job. She is stupendous.
If you ask me, what's "prestigous" is purely subjective. 99.9% Indians can't tell who are big stars in basketball or baseball. With the possible exception of Football, Tennis and 100m sprint, very few sports have universally known stars. And football and even tennis do not consider olympics to be that important. That only leaves 100m sprint.
Heena sindhu doing what she does best, CHOKING! Precision event for her is better then rapid, heaven forbids but if she shoots only 95 at best in precision m afraid I can't even imagine the rapid's result.
Hockey is huge in Holland Germany Spain UK-Ireland Belgium Canada and the best of these countries players earn their livelihood at the multitide of Indian leagues. Teun de Nooijer is a national icon far more revered than Ruud van Nistelrooij for the Dutch. Same for Taeke Taekema. For sporting powerhouse Aus, Jamie Dwyer who had a cricket scholarship at AIS could have easily chosen their national sport, yet he chose hockey. In all these countries, hockey attracts packed houses.
Forget the average Indian. If you show me pics of Derek Jeter A-Rod Pujols Brady the Mannings Tebow Gretzsky.... I will score way way below 50%
