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It
is undeniable that Indian sports are at the
bottom. India have lost significance in many
games in the last 25 years. There was a time
when India dominated on the hockey fields.
Unfortunately, today Indian hockey is not in the
list of top hockey playing nations.
India reached into the semi-final in football in
1956 at the Melbourne Olympics, and won the gold
medal in 1951 in the inaugural Asian Games.
After that instead of improving standard in
football we have been going down. Most of the
time, our sportspersons fail to perform in
crunch situations. India needs an overhaul to
develop a sporting culture in the country.
The most awful thing for the Indian sports is
the involvement of politicians. They are running
the sports federations. They have no time to
think why our players are unable to do well at
the highest levels. This way they are ruining
the Indian sports rather than trying to improve
it. Moreover, its ultimate result is the dipping
standard of Indian athletes.
Indian sports are lacking basic facilities. No
attention is being paid at the grassroots level,
so our budding athletes are deprived of
demonstrating their talents. They do not have
chance to nurture and their hunger for sports
die within themselves.
Whenever Indian contingent returns from Olympics
then media, sports lovers made great clamor.
Questions are raised in the Parliament for
India’s poor show. Unfortunately after that,
everything gets forgotten. The same story is
repeated four years later. No one comes forward
to steady the ship of Indian sports.
Our sportsmen are capable of doing well at the
mega events too. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
surprised everyone when he bagged the silver
medal in double trap shooting at the 2004 Athens
Olympics. Sania Mirza, Anju Bobby George,
Vishwanathan Anand and others have made the
country proud. How to squeeze the talent form
Indian athletes is a million dollar question. If
proper attention and facilities are given to
them then Indian athletes will perform better.
Our neighbour China is the best example. In
China, sports is compulsory for the children in
their curriculum. Watch the Chinese domination,
they are ready to lead the world in sports. Do
not forget that China first time participated in
Olympics in 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics
since then Chinese progress is immaculate and
they never looked back.
If India wants to be a superpower in sports then
politics and regionalism should be dragged out.
Sports should be made compulsory for the
students as a part of the syllabus in schools.
Sportsmen of the respective disciplines of the
yesteryears should be given chance to monitor
the function and progress of the budding
athletes from the grassroots level to the
highest level.
Popularity of cricket is an obstacle in the
progress of Indian sports. Cricket is treated
like religion in India. Cricketers are people’s
heroes. Wherever they go, people are ready to
follow them. Media persons eagerly wait for them
to take their bite. One sneeze of Sachin
Tendulkar is enough to catch the headline of
next day’s newspapers.
People were agitated for Ganguly’s seclusion
form team India. Political leaders were also
involved in Dada’s episode. Ganguly’s inclusion
in the team was necessary because assembly
elections will be held soon in West Bengal.
Cricketers are so highly rated in this country
that politicians have realized that their
omission may change the fate of a state’s
government.
After the Karachi test debacle cricket fans were
so demoralized that they have lost something
personal. Despite hammered by the Pakistanis at
Karachi Indian fans were hoping that our
cricketers will bounce back in one day cricket
or forthcoming home series against England. We
have no passion to wait for better performances
from our athletes of different games. Such
discriminations can not help Indian sports.
Other sporting events never get the same sort of
coverage by media like cricket. Corporate houses
book cricketers for the advertisements. The
election of BCCI gets importance like the
President’s election.
At present, the fate of the Indian sportsmen is
not looking promising. Asian Games and
commonwealth games are approaching. The progress
of our athletes is far from satisfactory. Sports
Ministry is not optimistic to change the set-up
of Indian sports.
Yearly tournaments like Premier Hockey League (PHL)
and Chennai Open are positive steps. Young
Indian hockey and tennis talents have chance to
play with the excellent players in their home
conditions.
Live telecast of both the events and money
encourage the players to adopt other games apart
from cricket. Such tournaments entice people’s
interests. Eventually other games will get
popularity in India like cricket. This way the
derailed sporting scenario of India may get back
on the track.
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Comments: |
Dear
Wasimul Haque, everyone salutes the
rising sun. The craze for cricket in
India is because it ranks well in
International Cricket. It's reason
may go to fewer number of competent
or decaying of existing competent
such as Zimbabwe, West Indies etc.
Hardly we have six competitors in
cricket, thus our position is safe
and we have lion's share in this
game, hence it is popular. However
it is foolish to say that other
games do not enjoy importance in
India. For proof, go to Kolkata, Goa
and Kerala and you can see the craze
about football there. All major
industries/institutions of India
such as Railways, Coal India, SAIL,
Indian Airlines, Defense Forces,
Banks, Police, Mahindra and Mahindra,
JCT etc. have football teams. Even
we have Tata Football Academy in
Jamshedpur that generates hundreds
of high quality football players
every year. If we combine all these
football players then we will leave
behind the numbers in UK, German,
France, Bulgaria, Uruguay, Paraguay
and so on. Our players are getting
better facilities and affection than
players of Colombia and Ghana. But
we are not even near to Nigeria and
Latvia.
The fact is we are not playing well
in other sports despite getting
better facility, secure job and
affection of people whereas players
of other countries are liable to get
killed in case of single mistake
(remember the gunned down of
Colombian Player in past world cup)
and there is no job security.
Another truth is: The climate of
Indian Subcontinent is not suitable
for high stamina games. Whether it
is Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka etc. the story is same and
people of these countries have
already experimented other games and
realized that they should better
concentrate on less-stamina games
such as Cricket, Chess, Shooting
etc.
Unfortunately we lagged behind even
in less-stamina games and that is a
matter of concern. Indian Government
cannot change the fate because of
vested political interests and
regional politics.
The private parties and individuals
need to come forward and prove
themselves as it is done by Milkha
Singh, Rathore, Sania Mirza,
Vishwanathan Anand, Leander Paes,
Mahesh Bhupati, Anju George, PT Usha
etc.
China is a different story. Its
govt. can do anything it wants
because it is not affected by vested
interests and regional politics.
Thus it can take quick decision and
implement it fast and punish the
corrupts without and delay. -
Tarakeswar Dubey - Feb. 6, 2006
Thanks for writing this article, Mr
Wasimul. If schools and parents
understand the importance of sports,
then there is no reason for India
not to shine in Olympics. St
Ignatius school of Gumla (Jharkhand)
is a good example. Read the
achievements of this school in
football at this link
http://gumla.nic.in/sports.htm .
This school has won Junior Nehru
hockey tournament in past and has
presence in the Indian national
hockey team as well.
Sports are also necessary to instill
the virtues of discipline and
teamwork among students. I have seen
young men who were wasting time and
were on the verge of being spoilt,
how they started thinking positively
about life once they were motivated
towards sports. A complete
metamorphosis, unbelievable to the
people who knew them.
Cricket, particularly international,
is being hyped by the corporate in
their own interest. Other than
cricket, and to some extent tennis,
sports do not get any commercials.
Some TV channels dedicated to sports
do show a variety of games, but
cricket sells more than any other
sport in India. People take leave to
sit and watch the cricket match at
home. Even those at offices keep
fixed to a TV/radio and the
productivity gets affected.
Barring a few people, no one watches
national level games. State-level
players cannot make a living out of
sports. Some government
organisations do have a sports
quota, but not many get benefited
from that. If I compare to US, which
is not fare but still, the
state-level players are stars here.
Teams like Spurs, L. A. Lakers (NBA)
have a huge fan following. Not only
basketball, they promote baseball,
rugby, tennis, golf and many other
games.
Politics has made it worse in India.
They promote regionalism and
communalism for their ulterior
motives. Sometimes cricket matches
between India and Pakistan cause
tension between two communities.
Let us pledge to promote sports
among the young generation. Let us
discuss this more often with our
friends to spread the importance of
sports other than cricket. Sports
should be organized in villages to
tap young talents. Playing cards (Taash)
should be discouraged, this has
spoilt many village youngsters.
One positive information. A Tamil
friend of mine once told me about
his Math professor in college, who
often used to be the judge in
national-level Math Olympiad. In one
class, he was trying to motivate the
students. He said, "Look at Bihar. A
poor state with no facility, but
every year it is the Bihari students
who win the medals". I was proud to
hear that. - Kumod Jha - Feb. 6,
2006
I
often agonize, especially after
every Olympic Games, over the
miserable performance of the
successive Indian contingents. The
state of Indian sports is very
disproportionate to the rising
economic and political strength of
India.
Naturally people tend to compare
this sad reality with the tremendous
success that China is. However it is
an unfair comparison. For all the
reforms in China it is still
basically a totalitarian state. Very
young talents can be spotted and
taken to Beijing for long term
specialized training. No questions
are asked about the child's future
and parental opinions are of no
consequence. The prestige of the
country is all important. If such a
move is made in India the courts
will be deluged with litigation for
human rights violations.
Mr. Wasimul Haque is absolutely
correct when he says that India
lacks a sporting culture. For one,
parents do not think it is
important. Passing exams with flying
colours is the one and only priority
and I don't blame the parents. The
system only recognizes academic
excellence. Politics as he mentioned
is of course another bane. To get
sports out of politics or politics
out of sports is easier said than
done.
The solution is not to diminish
cricket but to raise the interests
of other games to a higher level.
Therein lies the problem. Nothing
succeeds like success and the
interest of the public and the media
will focus on anything that even
smells success. Chess got a fillip
after Viswanathan
Anand's achievements. F1 without
Karthikeyan or women's tennis sans
Sania Mirza would not create a
ripple in most of India.
To nurture sporting superstars and
world beaters takes patience,
dedication and lots of money. There
is no point in mentioning the truly
great sporting champions from Africa
who got by on little during their
earlier exploits. Even they have
gone high tech and high finance. The
government should give youth the
initial push into sporting
excellence and later leave it to
private enterprise to polish and
perfect these young gems into world
class sports persons while firmly
holding back on political
interference of any kind. - Dr
Ignatius Joseph, Malacca, Malaysia -
Feb. 6, 2006 |
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