Marks for sports.

Country of Reference: India It is a general topic and my opponent can be from any country. My opponent must argue for the topic i.e. sports persons must be given marks for sporting achievements. These marks will be used for admissions to colleges. Background: Admissions to colleges are on the basis of Board Exams or competitive exams which can be given once a year. Admissions are currently based purely on basis of marks obtained in the respective exam. Some people are trying to start a campaign to grant marks for sports persons. My argument: Getting admitted to a good college is important because a good education is the pathway to economic stability. In our country a good education is the best method to rise out of poverty. Our country has only produced 1 Olympic gold medalist in its 60+year history (Current population 1billion+). This is why people want to promote sports by granting marks to sportsmen/sportswomen. However it must be noted that this lone medalist is the son of a multimillionaire and received training abroad at considerable expense. Good training facilities are not available to the common man. Training must be undertaken at a considerable personal expense, putting it out of reach to the common man. The people who want to grant marks for sports come from well to do families who can afford to gain training at personal expense. This move smacks of elitism. People from the economically weaker sections constitute the majority of students who gain admission to top colleges and the elite are trying to gain an advantage in the guise of promoting sports. Secondly, Competition in each sports is of different level, it may be extremely difficult to reach district level in some sport whereas one may play at the national level for others without facing any competition before. We cannot give blanket marks to each sport based only on the level (i.e. district, state or national) at which a sports person has played. Most importantly, the limited number of seats in top colleges can be best utilized by granting them to smart, hard working students who are interested in academics i.e. students who score well. It would be a waste of resources if we were to grant seats to students who have limited academic talent simply because they are good at sports. Competition is cut-throat with top engineering colleges having a <1% acceptance rate. Students who do get admitted have studied anywhere between 5-10 hours daily for 2 years. Sports people without academic foundation would simply not be able to keep up with these students. Moreover it would be injustice to other students if we were to essentially penalize them for not being good at an unrelated activity (sports). The only incentive to play sports should be the activity itself. Financials can be based on advertising or other revenue. We can promote sporting talent at the cost of academic talent. Sports people in my country do not have very good economic prospects and this is why admissions to college are sought for them. However there is no need to promote an activity from which the country as a whole does not benefit. If there is no economic gain from sports (for sportsmen as a whole), then it indicates that as an activity it does not benefit the country. The fact of the matter is, a country does not benefit in substantially when someone wins an Olympic medal. Lastly, one plays a sport because it is fun and is good for the body. Playing sports to gain admission to a college would essentially be against this spirit. There is nothing wrong with promoting sports for the physical development of the country but the solution does not lie in giving marks for sports.