Indian parents don't see sports as profession: SRK

Demonstrating true sportsman's spirit and enthusiasm, superstar Shah Rukh Khan backssports as a profession. He says it should be considered a good job opportunity and that parents must be educated about how games can be a viable career option for their children.

"Parents will always be wary of sports as a profession and I don't see why they should not be...Parents will have to see that there is a job opportunity here," he said at the launch of a cricket championship.

Owner of Kolkata Knight Riders Indian Premier League (IPL) team, he added: "I am a big speaker of sports as a commercial success. Parents should know that it can be a salary job. Your kids will be proud of you."

A sports lover, the 47-year-old is willing to support every sport in the country.

"My movies has given me the position of a brand ambassador of a certain caliber. I would like to utilize it in whatever way possible for the sports," he said.

"I actually would like to be the brand ambassador of any sport in the country. I am good at sports. I love sports. I like cricket. Hockey is the best game in the world," he added.

However, what bothers him is that even today children can't confidently say that "they want to be a professional sportsman".

"In the last 25 years, because of the advent of technology, story writers and all, a lot of people want to be in media and films. The age of conventional jobs is over.

"But I think we have not reached that stage in our country where children can come up and say I want to make sports my job and be a professional sportsperson," he added.

Other than cricket, King Khan also wants to encourage football in India.

"We are the only nation who are on the threshold of development and we don't have a good football team," he said and added the most of the developing nations have it "as it is a cheapest sport".

The actor, who is associated with the hit sports-themed movie "Chak De! India", a film that put the women's hockey under spotlight, feels the condition of women sports hasn't changed much.

"I haven't seen a change. Films reflect society and show the condition of women's sports. It is sad that the situation is like this. I really think it is more important for women to come up. We keep talking about rights and protection, but I feel one of the biggest things for women is to divert their energies and attention to promote women's sport," he said.

Talking about the motto of his team Kolkata Knight Riders, Shah Rukh said: "My team has only one plan, go win the match and win the IPL championship."

Yes, Majority of the indian parents don't see sports as a profession... Do they have a choice. The infrastructure is so bad... there are no training facilities... hardly any funding by the government... negligence by the corporate sector... Parents have to pay a bomb to get the kids trained at a competitive level. How many can afford that?

Funding, infrastructure and the lack of basic facilities are the main issues. It would help if these celebs are the face of lesser known sports too. That way the other sports too will be in the limelight and that encourages the corporate sponsors to invest and sponsor the other sports/sportspersons too. Government too needs to pay attention to funding and proper distribution of the funds to the right places.

Its a cumulative problem...

why were they banned?

They don't.

My cousin who is 12 years old told my mami (his mom, my aunt) that he wanted to become a basketball player. My mami was like you can play that on the side for your entertainment, but you cannot make it a profession. You have to study something else.

Indian parents do not consider a sport as a profession unfortunately. They fail to realize that athletes that are top notch athletes probably earn about the same or relatively the same amount as the higher paid professions.

Ex of high paying athletes: Tom Brady (American Football), David Beckhan (Soccer), Sachin Tendulkar (Cricket), just to name a few.