Indian Mogul Tries Gamesmanship

2004年的雅典奥运会上,像成百上千万印度体育迷一样,钢铁大亨拉克希米•米塔尔(Lakshmi Mittal)也为几乎没有什么印度选手值得他去欢呼喝彩而深感沮丧.
At the Athens Olympics in 2004, steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, like millions of other Indian sports fans, was distressed: There were hardly any fellow Indians to cheer along.

虽然印度具备成为超级大国的潜力,并且是仅次于中国的世界第二人口大国,但它的奥运会参赛纪录却惨不忍睹.政府在培养未来奥运选手方面几乎没作过什么努力.印度在雅典奥运会上仅获得一枚射击银牌,奖牌数还赶不上津巴布韦和朝鲜.而被印度视为竞争对手的中国却在这届奥运会上赢得了32枚金牌,数量仅次于美国.米塔尔说:”这真令我失望.”
Although India is a budding superpower and, after China, the most-populous nation in the world, its Olympic record is dreadful. The government's efforts to groom future Olympians have been puny. In Athens, India took home just one medal, a silver for shooting -- less than the medal counts of Zimbabwe and North Korea. Archrival China won 32 golds, second only to the U.S. 'That really disappointed me,' Mr. Mittal says.


米塔尔青年时代便离开印度赴海外打拼,现在已是全球财富排行榜上位居前列的大富翁.今年57岁的他正试图为改变印度体育的落后面貌做些工作.
Now Mr. Mittal, 57 years old, who left India as a young man to amass one of the world's largest personal fortunes, is trying to do something about it. The billionaire has committed $10 million so far to the Mittal Champions Trust, a nonprofit effort to promote sporting excellence in India. The trust aims to improve India's Olympic record -- at least a bit -- by spotting a few promising athletes in this nation of 1.1 billion and introducing them to the kind of modern sports training that smaller, poorer countries mastered decades ago. At least 10 of its trained athletes will compete for India in Beijing.


这位亿万富翁迄今已向”米塔尔冠军基金会”捐助了1,000万美元.这家非营利机构致力于在印度培养优秀体育人才,希望能改善印度的奥运会纪录,哪怕是稍微改善一点.其做法是在印度11亿人口中物色一些有前途的运动人才,然后用现代手段训练他们,许多比印度小、比印度穷的国家早在几十年前就采用这种做法了.至少有10位该机构训练出的运动员将参加北京奥运会.
One of the brightest prospects today is Mangal Singh Champia, a 24-year-old archer from the village of Ichakuti in Jharkhand, one of India's poorest states. Children in the village, which has no electricity, use bows and arrows to shoot birds; adults use them to kill wildcats, lions and boar.

24岁的射箭运动员芒格尔•辛格•钱比亚(Mangal Singh Champia)便是其中一位, 他来自印度最贫穷省份加尔克汉德邦的伊查古提村,这个村子至今尚未通电,村里的孩子们用弓箭射飞鸟,成人们则用弓箭猎杀狮子和野猪.
辛格说,他8、9岁时就开始接触弓箭了,小伙伴们常常比赛射翠鸟和野鸽.他11岁时用6卢比买了自己的第一张弓.辛格说,”我告诉父亲自己买了本书.”
Mr. Singh first picked up a bow and arrow at the age of 8 or 9, he says. For sport, his friends would shoot at kingfishers and wild doves. He bought his first bow when he was 11 for six rupees. 'I told my father I was buying a book,' he says.


他说,自己是1992年巴塞罗纳奥运会期间听收音机时知道射箭是奥运会比赛项目的.”我当时想,我们村里的这种游戏也能在国外玩,我希望自己能去那里.”
He says he first heard of archery as an Olympic sport while listening to the radio during the Barcelona Summer Games in 1992. 'I was thinking, this game of my village is being played abroad, I wish I was there.'


接下来的几年中,辛格开始在当地和加尔克汉德邦的射箭比赛中崭露头角.20岁后他受聘代表南印度的安德拉邦参加射箭比赛.他的主要收入就是比赛奖金.第一名的奖金通常是25,000卢比,目前约合620美元.他常常要连乘好几天火车去参加比赛.辛格没有固定的训练计划,只有自己感觉状态不错时才会训练,他用的弓是别人淘汰的,所用的箭靶早已是千疮百孔.
Over the next few years, he began to build a reputation as an archer at local and state competitions. Hired to compete in archery contests for the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, he spent time in his early 20s there. His main income was prize money. A typical first prize was 25,000 rupees, now about $620. He spent days in cramped train compartments en route to tournaments. He had no fixed training program and practiced only when he felt like it, firing a hand-me-down bow at well-worn targets.


如果不是命运出现了转机,辛格可能还会继续四处奔波参加商业比赛,永远没有机会实现自己的奥运梦想.印度政府重视的是推广大众体育,而不是下力气培养一批世界级运动员.印度政府的统计数字显示,该国约7.7亿35岁以下人口中,只有5,000 万人参加过有组织的运动或比赛.印度主要的体育训练机构印度体育局(Sports Authority of India)直接训练的运动员只有13,000人左右.
As things stood, Mr. Singh probably would have continued to pound this tiring circuit and might never have had a chance to realize his Olympic dream. The Indian government's priorities have been to promote basic access to sports rather than foster a cadre of world-beating athletes. Of about 770 million people under the age of 35, only 50 million have access to any organized sport or games, according to government calculations. The country's main training body, the Sports Authority of India, trains only 13,000 or so athletes at its facilities.

印度体育也要面对困扰这个国家的诸多问题,首当其冲的便是贫困和公共教育体系的不完备.印度家庭更热衷于让孩子学业有成,而不是在体育运动上出人头地.
Indian sport also faces the broader problems plaguing the nation, starting with poverty and a delinquent public-education system. Families, understandably, have been more eager to urge their children to achieve academic success than athletic glory.


印度人并非对运动不感兴趣.封建时代统治印度的王公们是奖掖体育的.印度也是板球运动强国.20世纪前半叶,印度的男子曲棍球队实力强劲,在1928至 1956年期间连续多次获得奥运会金牌,后来又曾在1964和1980年的奥运会上夺冠.但当曲棍球的比赛场地从草场转为人工场地后,印度的许多曲棍球俱乐部却无力进行场地改造,印度的曲棍球强国地位也随之衰落了.在雅典奥运会上,印度曲棍球队仅名列第七.
It isn't that Indians are uninterested in athletics. Sports were encouraged under the maharajas who long ago ruled swaths of the country. And India is a major power in cricket. In the first half of the 20th century, it was pre-eminent in men's field hockey, winning successive Olympic gold medals from 1928 to 1956, and then again in 1964 and 1980. But when field hockey switched to artificial surfaces from grass, many Indian sports clubs couldn't afford to make the change, and the country's standing slipped. At the Athens Games, India came in seventh in the hockey competition.


米塔尔说:”看看印度民主的规模,我觉得印度运动员需要更大的支持.”目前定居伦敦的米塔尔偶尔会打打羽毛球,还喜欢在海德公园附近骑自行车.
Looking at the size of Indian democracy, I think Indian athletes need much more support,' said Mr. Mittal, who plays an occasional game of badminton and likes to cycle around Hyde Park in London, where he now lives.


成立于2005年11月的米塔尔冠军基金会打算不惜一切代价确保自己赞助的运动员获得成功.该基金会管理人员马尼沙•马尔霍特拉(Manisha Malhotra)说,除了为运动员提供世界一流的教练和训练设施外,这家机构还为他们提供精神支持.迄今为止,它赞助了包括射击、拳击、游泳、羽毛球和壁球运动员在内的总共32人.向基金会申请赞助的人当然不止这些,只是都被拒绝了.另一方面,基金会自己也去寻找有培养前途的体育人才.在听说了声名四起的辛格后,它专门派人花了大约一个月时间将他网罗旗下.
His Indian program, founded in November 2005, aims to provide its athletes everything they need to succeed. Beyond world-class coaching and facilities, athletes receive emotional support, says Manisha Malhotra, the program's administrator. It backs shooters, boxers, a swimmer, badminton and squash players -- a total of 32 athletes so far. Scores more have applied and been rejected. The trust goes looking for good prospects, too: After hearing about Mr. Singh through his growing reputation, scouts from the program spent about a month trying to track him down.


2006年2月辛格开始接受赞助,如今他住在距高科技中心班加罗尔约两小时车程的一个训练营.该基金会通常每月付给运动员5,000至10,000卢比.辛格会将其中的大部分寄回家,供弟妹们上学.他说,”我很高兴不用向家里要钱了.”
Mr. Singh joined the program in February 2006, and he now lives in a training camp about a two-hour drive from the high-tech hub of Bangalore. The trust typically pays athletes around 5,000 to 10,000 rupees a month. Mr. Singh sends much of it home for his family and younger siblings' education. 'I feel happy that I don't have to ask for money from home,' says the archer.

辛格51岁的教练苏米什•钱德拉•罗伊(Sumesh Chandra Roy)说,目前最大的挑战之一是加强辛格的纪律性.对于辛格和其他几名射箭运动员,曾在印度军队担任射箭教练的罗伊采取了一套严格的日程安排.
One of the biggest challenges has been improving Mr. Singh's discipline, says his 51-year-old coach, Sumesh Chandra Roy, a former archery coach for the Indian Army. He now has Mr. Singh and the other handful of archers on a strict schedule.


他们每周训练六天,如果有比赛临近还会增加到七天.运动员们早上5点左右起床,做完准备活动后便开始长跑或远途步行,接下来再练瑜珈.早饭后开始射箭练习.
The archers train six days a week, seven if they have a competition coming up. They rise around 5 a.m., stretch, and then go for a long run or walk. Then comes yoga, with its concentration on breathing, meditation and chanting. After breakfast, target practice.


辛格箭指北京奥运不久前的一天,米塔尔冠军基金会的射箭运动员们正在训练3分钟内向70米外的箭靶连射六箭,一组训练完成后运动员们缓步去将箭收集回来,一路上还聊着天.辛格目前用的是一张售价约3,500美元的Win&Win牌弓.运动员们所用的箭靶也经常更换,”如果靶面是新的,我们能瞄得更准,”辛格说.
One day recently, a group of the Mittal archers fired six arrows a set at targets 70 meters away over the course of three minutes, then sauntered over to collect them, chatting along the way. Mr. Singh now shoots with a Win&Win bow that costs about $3,500. The archers frequently replace their targets with new ones. 'When the face of the board is new, we can aim better,' he says.


他们的午饭是印度素食,有米饭、小扁豆、蔬菜咖喱、酸奶和甜点,用餐的地方是一间以印度教食物女神命名的自助餐厅,里面一片喧闹.
Lunch is Indian vegetarian food -- rice, lentil and vegetable curries, yogurt and dessert -- all served in a noisy cafeteria named for the Hindu goddess of food.

运动员们午休后继续进行射箭练习,然后是举重训练和晚餐,愿意加练的运动员晚饭后还可继续训练.他们也会接受营养学家、运动心理学家、理疗家和健身专家的指导.马尔霍特拉说,米塔尔冠军基金会正在努力培养运动员们的体育职业道德.
After a rest, they do more target practice, followed by weight training, dinner and night practice for those who want it. They also spend time with nutritionists, sports psychologists, physiotherapists, sports-medicine doctors, and fitness experts. The trust is 'trying to instill a work ethic of fitness,' says Ms. Malhotra.


在去年9月于中国举行的第15届亚洲射箭锦标赛上,辛格在初赛时的总成绩排名第一,但在半决赛中被淘汰.此赛事是世界规模最大的射箭比赛之一,亚洲许多国家的选手参加了比赛.
At the 15th Asian Archery Championships in China last September, Mr. Singh got the highest overall score in an early round, in one of the world's biggest archery tournaments, with competitors from across Asia. But he was beaten in a semifinal knockout.

辛格以其优秀成绩为印度赢得了一个参加北京奥运会男子个人射箭赛的名额.但这并不意味着该名额一定属于他.谁将最终代表印度参赛取决于印度射箭协会 (Archery Association),它要晚些时候才能决定参赛人选.该协会主席维杰库马•马尔霍特拉(Vijaykumar Malhotra)说,辛格要保持自己的良好状态才能入选.
His sharp shooting had won for India a place in the men's individual archery event in Beijing. Still, he is no shoo-in for that slot. The final say on who represents India rests with India's Archery Association, which will make a decision closer to the Beijing games in August. 'We have said that he has to keep his stature,' says Vijaykumar Malhotra, the association's president.


辛格说,他有信心自己的刻苦训练能在奥运会上换来好成绩.他说,自己的劲头是如此之足,为了赢得比赛他愿意付出一切努力.
Mr. Singh says he is determined to reap the rewards of all this training. 'I am so fired up that whatever's expected of me to win, whatever effort's expected, I will do it, I will put it in,' he says.