Every four years, there occurs a very predictable event which ends up being the main topic of discussion for at least 2-3 weeks and then subsequently dies down. No, we are not talking about leap years. We are talking about India’s incredible inability to win more than a handful of Olympic medals during the Summer Olympics. India had won a total of 6 Olympic medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, despite the fact that it has world’s second largest population. Also out of the 79 countries that won Olympic medals, India came in 59th place. There is no debating that India is a cricket-crazy nation. It is a part of our culture and in many ways, is one of the few things that unifies the entire nation. From “gully cricket” to the official Indian cricket team, cricket is to India what football is to Brazil. But this has not stopped Brazil from winning Olympic medals. Brazil, Russia, China, and dozens of other countries have been able to promote more than one sport in their respective countries. Why has the development of other sports been stunted in India, and what’s its economic impact on India? The irony is, if sports were promoted the same way we promote education, there is no doubt about the positive impact it would have on India’s youth and, consequently, the economy as a whole. The potential is truly limitless. In a comprehensive study done titled “Promoting the Benefits of Sport”, a group of researchers found that encouraging sports from a young age has a tremendous impact on not only the individuals, but also on the country overall. The study was broken down into four sections, which when put together paints a clear picture that promoting sports not only empowers children, adolescents, university students and adults, but also plays a tremendous role in boosting a country’s economy.