Talking to Express Newsline, Borromeo, currently a manager with Tata Steel at Jamshedpur, says India has not been doing well in the Olympic games primarily for three reasons: lack of a professional approach, lack of sports medicine (which include nutrition and a balanced diet) and lack of sports psychology.

``It is not that we lack talent. The only problem is that we don't have a system to identify and groom sporting talent'', he says, adding that Indians have strong determination and will power and are hardworking, which qualities are essential to make a marks in sports.

Citing the examples of Shivram (Rajasthan) Shivnath (Bihar) Gyan Shekhar (TamilNadu ) Anand (Karnatka), Gulab Chaudhary (West Bengal) and P T Usha, Borromeo points out that all these athletes were from rural areas. Between 80 to 92 per cent of Indian sportsmen come from rural backgrounds, he says.

Borromeo, who spent two days in the Dangs teaching tribal students some basic exercises, said he was initially concentrating on training physical education teachers, who would in turn train the students.

One of the handicaps faced by Indian sportsmen is the lack of professional guidance and sponsors, he says.``Though the government sports policy exists, it is not executed properly'', he regrets. Sports policy should be such that it encourages sportsmen in sports administration, he adds.

About Indian sportsmen's performance in the Olympic games, he maintains that it is not ``our performance which has gone down, but international performance which has gone up.''

Indians, he says, are doing well at the junior and veteran levels.``If we want our youth to do well in international sports, we should develop a core group of people who have done extremely well in sports'', he says.

A former student of St Xaviers' College, Ahmedabad, Borromeo says he played all games in college. ``When I joined college, I started running and broke all records at the inter-college, zonal and inter-university level in 400 metres, 800 metres and 1500 metres. My records have not been broken as yet'', he claims.

Borromeo won the 800 m in the 1982 Asiad with a time of 1 minute, 46.81 seconds. The government honoured him with the Arjuna Award in 1982 and the Padmashree in 1984.

Since 1979, when he participated in the World University games, Borromeo represented India more than 40 times in international meets including the Asian games and the Olympics.