The London Olympics has come to an end finally.With 6 medals,statistically this is the best Olympics for India.Here sports means cricket - only cricket.We don't even have a standard football team.Still India was able to bag 6 medals in Olympics,which is something great.Before getting into the article,as an Indian fan,I wholeheartedly congratulate the medal winners - Gagan Narang(Bronze,event 10m air rifle),Vijay Kumar(Silver,25m rapidfire pistol),Saina Nehwal(Bronze,badminton), Mary Kom(Bronze,boxing(51kg)), Yogeshwar Dutt(Bronze,60kg freestyle wrestling) and Sushil Kumar(Silver,66kg freestyle wrestling).
India is a nation with a population of more than 100 crore.But we feel satisfied with just 6 medals. We couldn't win a single gold medal.Atleast nowadays Indians are winning more medals in individual events.To that extent we should feel happy.Who is responsible for this situation?It would be utter non-sense to blame Saina Nehwal or Mary Kom for not winning a gold medal.To be honest these people has brought a great respect to their events.
I would like to recollect one incident about this Olympics.Semi-finals match between Saina Nehwal and China's Wang Yihan was going on.As I was free,I entered the cafetaria to watch this match.I was stunned to see a huge crowd and the best part is the crowd was cheering Saina for every point gained by her.I have never seen such a huge crowd for anyother event other than cricket.Last time I saw such an enthusiastic crowd was during Sachin's 100th century against Bangladesh.I was really happy to see people enjoying a badminton match.Unfortunately Saina Nehwal lost to her Chinese rival.But still she was the only non-Chinese player to qualify for semi-finals.And though she lost,she gave a tough fight to her opponent.Had she not lost her patience,she would have won the semi-finals(this is my opinion).Hats-off Saina,hope you win a gold next time.
The above incident clearly shows,nowadays people support every event,including cricket.The sports ministry and the respective authorities should realize this and should recognize the talents.Saina Nehwal won bronze, that's a different story.It was another lady's medal which is even more inspiring.MC Mary Kom,who is a mother of 2 kids,is a 5 time world champion in Boxing and she is the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.In home she is a sweet mother and inside the boxing ring, she is a real fighter.She is from Manipur.She has started a boxing academy using her own money.This shows her passion for the sport.The govt should come forward and fund her.Fund the likes of Mary Kom.We have some culture-less cricketers, who openly accuse their captain out of jealousy, getting crores of money for being a part of world cup winning team.If such non-performers can get so much of money, why not a five time world champion like Mary Kom?
If a cricketers scores 5 centuries in international matches,he gets lot of sponsors,lot of prize money from governments,BCCI etc.Are we treating the non-cricketers the same way?In what way non-cricketing sportsmen are inferior?Just look at Yogeshwar Dutt's pic below.Doesn't the swelling on his eye say how much respect he deserves?India is improving gradually in shooting.In 2004, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver medal.In 2008,Abhinav Bindra created history by winning first gold medal in individual events.And now,in 2012,we have 2 medals in shooting - Gagan Narang and Vijay Kumar.India's national coach for shooting,Sunny Thomas said he will quit his job,as he has served enough to the event.True - he has been serving as a coach for the past 17 years.But why we could not win more gold medals?
To win more gold medals,our players need a proper atmosphere to practice.The respective authorities should take care of this.Politicians should be kept out of administration matters.The job of a politician must be restricted to allocating enough funds and providing the necessary support to the authorities.
Indian hockey team is a 8 time champion in Olympics.We have won 8 gold medals.But during the last Olympics,we even failed to qualify.This time,India ended up with zero wins.It was expected.Earlier we had Indian Hockey Federation and now we have Hockey India as governing bodies.I don't know how many people have proper knowledge about hockey in these governing bodies.Someone like Dhanraj Pillai or Bhaskaran should lead these governing bodies.We should have a proper energetic coach.And the sports ministry should provide the necessary support to these governing bodies.This is how it should work.
As long as the governing bodies are not proper,India can never grow up in any sporting event.The recent quarrel among Indian tennis players showed the ugly face of the so called 'tennis stars'.Mahesh Bhupathi openly refusing to play with Leander Paes,Leander Paes commenting about his partner Vishnu Vardhan(this was his comment : 'I don't even know if he has grass-court shoes. So it's a bit of a tough one.'),Sania Mirza's unwanted statements about male chauvinism etc., shows the lack of proper governing body for tennis. For making such stupid comments,the Indian Olympic Association could have very well stopped this players from playing in the Olympics.Anyway they didn't win any medals.They can never win medals with this attitude.
In any sports,you may win or you may not,that's common.But the attitude you show matters more than the outcome.Though Saina Nehwal lost against Wang Yihan,she showed a good attitude on field.I expected Vijendar to win a medal this time too.Though he lost in the quarter-finals,he played well.There was another guy called Devendro Singh,who also made his presence felt.Let us hope these guys win a medal in next Olympics.
Players with proper potential and attitude,to win medals,must be selected.The authorities should start grooming players. Keep the dirty politics away from sports,encourage real talents,respect non-cricketers too,provide all type of support to these players - count the no. of gold medals.We can win atleast 25 medals.
I conclude this post with a salute to our medal winners.And special wishes to Sushil Kumar for creating history by winning 2 individual medals in Olympics.He is the first Indian to do so.I was also happy to see the media giving more importance to Olympics over India-Srilanka ODI series.I was really happy to see Sushil Kumar in almost all news channels. Let us hope we win more medals in 2016 Olympics.
6 comments:
Scrapping for one gold medal in a country of billion is pathetic. Its high time something is done about that.I hear India's budget for sports every year is like 10% of what china spend on their sportsmen.And when that meager amount is also pocketed by people like Kalmadi's it gets much worse. In such a situation,forget gold, winning a medal itself is an achievement.
Personally these winners have to be saluted to have made this far in a country like this especially Mary Kom and Saina.They made us proud no doubt.
Good post Boss!
We are living in the environment where Engineers/Doctors are only considered as Successful Person.
But congratulating only the medal winners is unfair :(.
Sushil has made India proud. He along with the Indian Olympic team has proven that heroes don't just come from Bollywood movies and cricket alone. I wish all the best for our Olympic team for the future. All those who wish to poison our happiness will say stuff, let us not lend them our ears.
All your postings are really good craving for some change and improvement to happen. Hope ur wishes come true.. Good job.. Keep posting...
@Vishnu,Shayari and Jothi - thanks for commenting here :-)
@Jagan - I have conveyed my respect to non-medal winners as well like Vijendar,Devendro etc.. I should have included Tintu Luka's name too.. thanks for commenting :-)
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