After Abhinav Bindra won the gold in the 10m air riffle in the Beijing Olympics we all were in seventh heaven. The whole nation was celebrating. One of the first questions that popped up in my mind was, should we be jumping up and down when we got just one gold medal. A country with a population of more than a billion getting 1 out of the 1000 odd medals up for grabs, is it really something that deserve comments like, "we beat the Chinese"? At first my answer was a big NO. After a while the NO changed to " who am I kidding, as a sporting nation we are hopeless, celebrate every little success you get in the world stage."
After a while when i was watching TV, I heard a reporter asking, "is this medal the spark that India requires for being a world leader in sports?" The sports person in the panel replied, this is what was said about the silver that India won in Athens. All the hype and glory will died out within an year and everything was back to normal.
What he said was true and there was a good reason for that. The problem with these Olympic sports in India is that, after the Olympics is over, the telecast of such events is almost nil. So for people to follow various Olympic sports is quite hard and hence its natural the interest levels of people will dip after the Olympics(not that its over the roof during it). Another problem that we have is the role sports play in our lives. In the US and the various other sporting countries Olympic events are given a great importance in the grass root level ie the schools. A student can chose sports as a way of life. Achievers in various sports are given scholarships in all the universities and hence sports becomes a way of securing ones future. Unfortunately in India the people who take up sports and fail to reach the top are left with no option other than to beg. The sports people neglect their studies and pursue their dream and if it fails they are left on their own on the streets. Hence parents and children will have to think twice before getting into sports(excluding cricket).
For India to become a sporting power house, its not enough that we build thousands of stadiums and give people easy access to the facilities(I am not saying that we have thousands of stadiums fit for athletes to train properly). The government and various universities and schools should take steps to make sports a way of living. Even though we have sports quotas in colleges, a better plan needs to be there so that the people who step into sports feels save about their future. The problem with Indians is that we are afraid to take risks. Its quite hard for some one to do something which is a bit different. We copy a lot of stuff from the west, its high time that we take a leaf out of their book and implement a better sporting culture in our country. You can invest as much money as you want, but to get consistent results in sports you need a solid sporting culture.
After a while when i was watching TV, I heard a reporter asking, "is this medal the spark that India requires for being a world leader in sports?" The sports person in the panel replied, this is what was said about the silver that India won in Athens. All the hype and glory will died out within an year and everything was back to normal.
What he said was true and there was a good reason for that. The problem with these Olympic sports in India is that, after the Olympics is over, the telecast of such events is almost nil. So for people to follow various Olympic sports is quite hard and hence its natural the interest levels of people will dip after the Olympics(not that its over the roof during it). Another problem that we have is the role sports play in our lives. In the US and the various other sporting countries Olympic events are given a great importance in the grass root level ie the schools. A student can chose sports as a way of life. Achievers in various sports are given scholarships in all the universities and hence sports becomes a way of securing ones future. Unfortunately in India the people who take up sports and fail to reach the top are left with no option other than to beg. The sports people neglect their studies and pursue their dream and if it fails they are left on their own on the streets. Hence parents and children will have to think twice before getting into sports(excluding cricket).
For India to become a sporting power house, its not enough that we build thousands of stadiums and give people easy access to the facilities(I am not saying that we have thousands of stadiums fit for athletes to train properly). The government and various universities and schools should take steps to make sports a way of living. Even though we have sports quotas in colleges, a better plan needs to be there so that the people who step into sports feels save about their future. The problem with Indians is that we are afraid to take risks. Its quite hard for some one to do something which is a bit different. We copy a lot of stuff from the west, its high time that we take a leaf out of their book and implement a better sporting culture in our country. You can invest as much money as you want, but to get consistent results in sports you need a solid sporting culture.
1 comment:
Abhinav Bindra got medal only due to his success story after spending crs of money from his hand. he has his own forgein coach his own shooting range back at home and 7hrs of heavy training. all done using his own money. there r no sponsers for him and for any other olympics athelets except for the tennis players. y r we wasting money in sania mirza and y can't they giv this money support to atheletes lik pritha soman from our kerala who doesn't have a proper home to live.
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