How can we encourage India's youth to achieve excellence in sports?

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In sports, character, value, physical and mental strength are all challenged in a short span of time. Sports can tell us a lot about ourselves as individuals and as a society. Yet, apart from a fanatic obsession with Cricket, we have very little to show for our passion in sports. While there is certainly better infrastructure available today, sport is not a popular part of Indian culture. Instead of joining sports teams or athletic games, many children are spending countless hours in front of TV screens and video games. Since its Independence, India has won only 4 individual Olympic medals (K.D. Jhadav for Wrestling, K. Malleshwari for weightlifting, R. Rathore for shooting and yours truly for tennis). We won a hockey gold way back in 1980! Currently we are ranked a lowly 157 in world football. Our excellence in swimming is limited to the SAF Games. Is something missing in our strength as a nation? How do we address this issue?