Did you see the badminton last night? It was really quite exceptional. P.V. Sindhu ran her fans through the wringer, subjecting to us to the most abject tensions, before rushing to victory in straight games. She went behind, she went ahead, she smashed, she dropped, she got carried away, she reeled it back in and ultimately she won.

But let us not linger too much on the subject, in case we jinx it.

India’s Olympic campaign so far is capable of making believers of the most agnostic among us.

However the BBC commentators during the badminton match brought up something about Sindhu that was new information to me. It turns out that her parents, Ramana and Vijaya, were both volleyball players. Not only that, her father was the captain of the Indian men’s volleyball team that won bronze at the 1986 Asian Games. (India used to be pretty good at volleyball. And, in fact, still has a reasonably decent team ranked in the top 40 in the world.)

Dipa Karmakar’s father was the state champion of weightlifting in Tripura in his youth. Leander Paes’s parents were both athletes of the highest level—Vece Paes in hockey and Jennifer Paes in basketball.

The influence of sporting parents is even more visible elsewhere. Thirteen members of Canada’s squad at Rio have parents who were not just athletes but Olympians themselves. The number of Canadians with sporting parents must be several times greater than this 13.

There is growing, but by no means conclusive, evidence from research that genetics plays an important role in sporting achievements. Kara Rogers, on the Encyclopedia Britannica website, lists several genes that show an association with sporting success: ADRA2A (alpha-2A adrenergic receptor), ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme), NOS3 (nitric oxide synthase 3), and ACTN3 (alpha-actinin-3).

ACE, she writes, is a gene that regulates blood pressure, and exists in two forms, the D and I allele.

“Olympic-caliber distance runners typically possess the I allele, which reduces circulating levels and activity of ACE. Those reductions are associated with increased relaxation of blood vessels. The gene also uses an indirect mechanism, namely the activation of other genes, to influence glucose uptake by skeletal muscle and to optimize oxygen utilization and energy production.

ALSO READ | Rio Olympics: P.V. Sindhu defeats world No. 2 Wang Yihan, fuels medal hopes

In contrast, elite swimmers and sprinters typically have the D allele, which is believed to result in increased muscle power via ACE’s ability to induce cell growth. In general these athletes rely more heavily on power than endurance athletes. Although it is not known for certain, the D allele appears to facilitate increased growth of the types of muscle fibers that power athletes rely on for explosive speed."

So little wonder that British bookmakers are offering 50-1 odds that the future progeny of Laura Trott and Jason Kenny—both gold medalists in Rio—will be Olympic medallists themselves.

It should also be obvious, however, that genetics by themselves are insufficient factors. As Christina Farr writes in a Fast Company piece titled, Do Olympians Have Better Genes Than You Or Me?, nurture is important: “It makes a big difference if the athlete’s parents are interested in sports, and if they had access to both high-quality training and fresh food."

So you see where I am going with this?

What could be a good way to find potential sportspeople who may have the right genes, supportive parents and an all-round conducive environment?

Nepotism reigns supreme over vast swathes of Indian public life. Doctors beget doctors, ministers beget ministers, journalists beget journalists, actors beget “actors". Why not use this nepotism for a good cause? And help our sportspeople beget Olympians? What is the worst that could happen? We could end up getting a bunch of guys who use their parent’s contacts and influence to brutally manipulate a sport.

So like cricket, basically. And we are pretty good at cricket.

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