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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Some people believe it is better for governments to spend any available money for sports on providing facilities for the general population. Others believe that instead, they should invest in training top athletes to win major competitions.

Discuss both points of view and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

Model Answer 1:
A country is known by its subjects, the people who reside in that country. There are, of course, other parameters as well, like the economy of the country, the Gross Domestic Product, the average income earned per person, to name a few. However, these other parameters ultimately are dependent on the available resources with such country. There are countries on this globe which have a handful of resources, but a judicious approach in utilising and exploiting these limited resources makes a country being either looked upon or looked down or even ignored in certain cases. Due to this, one of the many factors, the government of a country must try to divert its resources (read monetary resources) towards building a healthy nation by investing and nurturing the health of its inhabitants.

There are two schools of thoughts whose views vary from one another. One of the schools is of the view that the available monetary resources must be diverted towards enhancing the skills of a few of the top athletes, which the country adorns. The view of the other school, however, is skewed on the other side which believes that the financial resources, at the disposal of a country, must be directed towards making available better facilities to the general public, at large. According to the other school, the impetus must be towards extending benefits to a large base of the population rather than restricting the flow of benefit to a privileged class.

Though the importance of exploiting the talent of top athletes, who are few in numbers, cannot be ignored, as they do bring the charm, glory, laurel and fame to their parent country by winning sports competition, albeit, at the cost of public, at large. As a matter of fact, the opinion of one of the schools of thoughts was vouched for, in one of the articles of the weekly magazine, The XAW. The magazine depicted the amount spent for promoting sports by investing the taxpayer's money, on a few top sports person. The data clearly revealed and drew a picture that clearly did show the exorbitant amount so spent. It can be safely said that these are not mere speculations of an armchair dreamer but are the bare truth revealed by the statistics.

Thus, it can be candidly and, with evidence, concluded that the government must divert their economic resources towards providing general facilities, which are mandatory, to the population, which has a large base, rather than investing money on a few top athletes. It, however, does not diminish the value of sports because sports is one of the activities which provide health to anyone who pursues it and of course health, for everyone is dearer than the fine opals, more precious than the emeralds!

[ Written by - Neeraj Mehra  ]

Sample Answer 2:
The first opinion of the debate is to spending money on providing facilities for the commoners by the government while the second one argues that the investment should be for the top athletes only. This is a well-debated topic and deserves some attentions. In my opinion both the schools are correct in some senses and they have some reasons to believe so.

Firstly, it should be considered that the number of ordinary people is considerably higher than the top athletes. So, they are in need of some sports facilities where they could have the chance of physical activities. In fact, we all are aware of the importance of physical activities and how they benefit us all. In my locality, there are no public parks available where the people can take some exercises in morning or evening hours. So, the number of patients with physical disorders like diabetes, obesity, heart disease etc. is on the rise in my locality here in Jakarta and the issue got covered on the local dailies as well. The government in a county should be more focused on improving the public health than winning some trophies.

On the contrary, top athletes are assets for a nation. Their failure in any competition is the disgrace for the entire state. Unless they are trained in a perfect manner, they would be unable to participate in major competitions and bring the desired fame for the country. So, a proper training is a must for them. It would really be a humiliation when media will cover stories over their failures in international sporting events and if that happens for lack of government appreciation.

Therefore, considering both the arguments, I think the government should make a balance between the two. Usually, physical activities make people fit and help to be an effective workforce. So, if the mass people turn physically inactive, an economic disaster is a must. Further, if the top athletes are ignored, it will be a disgrace for the nation. Hence, the I believe the government should pay attention in both the case equally.

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