It would be awful if sports returns to its crevice
The crazy, frenetic activity around the Commonwealth Games is over. But the achievement of the Indian athletes will long stay in public memory. The best thing about the CWG was undoubtedly the performance of the Indian brigade. It came as a breath of fresh air, something that was life-support equipment for the beleaguered Games, hit as they were by corruption and mismanagement charges.
Many of India’s faceless athletes made a mark internationally, drawing worldwide appreciation for their efforts despite the well-publicised adversities that Indian sports has lived with. Except for the Australians, who are completely self-possessed and arrogant, all other teams felt India was in the process of arriving big time on the global athletic scene. Some, like the Canadians, thought the CWG was a perfect platform for India to have shown its prowess both to the world and to its very own sports administrators who might now be spurred into devising a focused, lavish and performance-oriented London 2012 plan.
Even some of the medal-winning athletes hoped that after such a keen performance and all the laurels that they had brought to the nation, the Government would accord more stature to sports in the country. Indeed, it would be awful were they to wither away into oblivion again.
Alarmingly however, going by the sporting conditions in India, there is a distinct possibility of that happening and just before the Asian Games and the not-too-faraway London Olympics such a situation would be like an axe on India’s head which is well on its way to establishing itself as a sporting nation.
It is so heartening to have seen how these sportspersons came to Delhi 2010 from their remote nooks, faceless and largely unattended, to go all the way to the podium. As many as 38 times our national anthem was played at the various stadiums to celebrate yeoman effort of our Indian stars. The public went wild, so many of the players cried in happiness on the podium and even those in the stands applauding them returned with surging pride and moist eyes.
In one case, the women’s discus event, all the three medals came to India – gold, silver and bronze. I personally went crazy searching for a photograph which could show three Tricolours going up at the same time in the same event but none of the photographers had caught the moment, a rarest of rare moment in judicial terms. Krishna Poonia, the gold winner, could not stop crying for days after achieving this feat along with Harminder and Antil. And such stories were not few and far between.
If Poonia had left her son behind in pursuit of her career and her coach husband had stood up to all the mockery that came his way in male-dominated Haryana about him going after his wife’s career, the man who won the 20km walk had an even more amazing story to tell. He said he had taken to walking because that was the only sport where you did not need money or equipment to further your ambitions. He recalled, how he had always been a sport enthusiast and wanted to make a career in any discipline. That he took to walking was because he could do so without any money. He was so poor that he could not even buy shoes for himself and mostly practiced barefoot!
Table Tennis’ Sharath … cried like a baby for missing his gold in the individual event but reaching the podium to collect the yellow metal in the team event. Considering that stalwarts like Singapore were there and India still got it for the nation was one big success story. Sharath hails from Siliguri more known for being a market hub of the north-east rather than its sporting acumen.
Com to think of it, the Commonwealth Games showed us how the 1 billion plus people are actually spilling over with talent, perseverance, determination and the desire to excel globally. Only, the talent hunters, for whatever reasons, are not finding these future champions and brining them under the care of the Government to train, become physically fit and chart out a career in sports. Now that they have shown they have it in them to stand up to international competition, perhaps the official appreciation will become more sustained than the fits and starts awards they announce to first celebrate the moment and then promptly forget it as the news moves on. Really, it will be sad if this momentum that the Games has generated all goes to waste and our Ashwanis and Ashishs, our Poonias and Kaurs, our Alkas and Monicas and our Deepikas and Manojs got back from where they emerged – the unknown, untapped hinterland.
Source: Sunday Pioneer, October 17, 2010
Many of India’s faceless athletes made a mark internationally, drawing worldwide appreciation for their efforts despite the well-publicised adversities that Indian sports has lived with. Except for the Australians, who are completely self-possessed and arrogant, all other teams felt India was in the process of arriving big time on the global athletic scene. Some, like the Canadians, thought the CWG was a perfect platform for India to have shown its prowess both to the world and to its very own sports administrators who might now be spurred into devising a focused, lavish and performance-oriented London 2012 plan.
Even some of the medal-winning athletes hoped that after such a keen performance and all the laurels that they had brought to the nation, the Government would accord more stature to sports in the country. Indeed, it would be awful were they to wither away into oblivion again.
Alarmingly however, going by the sporting conditions in India, there is a distinct possibility of that happening and just before the Asian Games and the not-too-faraway London Olympics such a situation would be like an axe on India’s head which is well on its way to establishing itself as a sporting nation.
It is so heartening to have seen how these sportspersons came to Delhi 2010 from their remote nooks, faceless and largely unattended, to go all the way to the podium. As many as 38 times our national anthem was played at the various stadiums to celebrate yeoman effort of our Indian stars. The public went wild, so many of the players cried in happiness on the podium and even those in the stands applauding them returned with surging pride and moist eyes.
In one case, the women’s discus event, all the three medals came to India – gold, silver and bronze. I personally went crazy searching for a photograph which could show three Tricolours going up at the same time in the same event but none of the photographers had caught the moment, a rarest of rare moment in judicial terms. Krishna Poonia, the gold winner, could not stop crying for days after achieving this feat along with Harminder and Antil. And such stories were not few and far between.
If Poonia had left her son behind in pursuit of her career and her coach husband had stood up to all the mockery that came his way in male-dominated Haryana about him going after his wife’s career, the man who won the 20km walk had an even more amazing story to tell. He said he had taken to walking because that was the only sport where you did not need money or equipment to further your ambitions. He recalled, how he had always been a sport enthusiast and wanted to make a career in any discipline. That he took to walking was because he could do so without any money. He was so poor that he could not even buy shoes for himself and mostly practiced barefoot!
Table Tennis’ Sharath … cried like a baby for missing his gold in the individual event but reaching the podium to collect the yellow metal in the team event. Considering that stalwarts like Singapore were there and India still got it for the nation was one big success story. Sharath hails from Siliguri more known for being a market hub of the north-east rather than its sporting acumen.
Com to think of it, the Commonwealth Games showed us how the 1 billion plus people are actually spilling over with talent, perseverance, determination and the desire to excel globally. Only, the talent hunters, for whatever reasons, are not finding these future champions and brining them under the care of the Government to train, become physically fit and chart out a career in sports. Now that they have shown they have it in them to stand up to international competition, perhaps the official appreciation will become more sustained than the fits and starts awards they announce to first celebrate the moment and then promptly forget it as the news moves on. Really, it will be sad if this momentum that the Games has generated all goes to waste and our Ashwanis and Ashishs, our Poonias and Kaurs, our Alkas and Monicas and our Deepikas and Manojs got back from where they emerged – the unknown, untapped hinterland.
Source: Sunday Pioneer, October 17, 2010
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