Hyderabad, July 17 -- Abhijit Sen Gupta

The Olympic Games are considered the greatest sports show on earth but India'sperformance at the Olympics has been shockingly poor. For a country which has the world's second highestpopulation, India's medal haul hasbeen abysmally low. Much smaller nations have done far better than us.

The reason is that nepotism, corruption and apathy have ruined Indian sport. The history of sports abounds with stories of neglect that have crippled many careers.

One such story is that of an immensely talented swimmer, Shamsher Khan. He was born to a poor farmer's family in Kaithepalle village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh but his talent enabled him to qualify for theOlympic Games in 1956 at Melbourne andr...