An unusual indicator

Whilst investors tend to focus on economic metrics, such as GDP growth, to measure a country's progress, an equally effective way to assess the rise of a nation is its success in sports

- SAURABH MUKHERJEA

"A wind of change. which started to blow at the turn of the 21st century -- swept across most sports disciplines. Most categories, like boxing, wrestling, archery, hockey etc. have given us international stars." (Source: Business Standard, https://bit.ly/3Lifv2p)

"Before even I started (playing badminton) it was more like 'Girls shouldn't come out and play sport -you need to stay at home.' But in a few years back it has changed [...] It's no more that the girl should stay at home... No one should think that men are strong, and women have nothing. Nobody should think that [...] Women are strong enough to do whatever they want." - PV Sindhu (source: CNN, https://cnn.it/3DnjlFL)

A steady arc of improvement

India's performance at the latest edition of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham is a testimony to the fact that the country's performance in highly demanding sporting disciplines (beyond cricket) has improved steadily over the past 20 years. From earning less than 25 medals in the Commonwealth Games back in 1998, the medals tally for the country has consistently stayed above the 60-medal mark in the last two decades. In fact, had the organisers in Birmingham not removed shooting-related disciplines from the games, it is likely that India's medals tally in Birmingham would have represented its best haul in such games. As it happened, India returned from Birmingham with 61 medals.