Hello readers
Hope you all are doing great.
"Adolf Hitler tries to rule the world, but
Dhyan Chand ruled Adolf hitler."
- The Sunday Herald Dec 1967
It is great to be blogging
again after quite a long break.
The Olympics are almost the
oldest sporting events in this world which are being carried on from
generations together with the same rich culture and best sportsman spirit. It
is a venue where skills, guts and tenacity meet.
The Olympians are an
inspiration to all of mankind for their dedication perseverance and patience.
Let us now discuss about where
India stands in this great global event.
When P.V Sindhu won the silver
medal and Sakshi Mallik won the bronze medal in Rio, we are sure that it was a
very jubilant moment for the whole Nation.
We all must respect the
Olympians who went from India, because we appreciate the callus attitude of the
sports authorities towards them.
We took some time in considering
one of the most important factors for success i.e., the benefits given to the
Olympians. An analysis has been made of the benefits given to an Olympic
aspirant in India and in comparison with the benefits given in the US. Few may
feel that there has to be no comparisons as it would be unfair since, the US is
far ahead of India in many disciplines and we are still in developing front. It
is true. This has to be seen with a positive mind-set and only for the benefit
of our country in the field of sports.
After reading some of the thoughtful
articles about the sports services given to Indians and other countries we got
some takeaways.
In India there is a popularity
index imbalance towards cricket and other sports which is alarming and unhealthy.
No doubt cricket is great game but why should we not think as other games are
not as great as cricket?
The Indian Government has set
up an institution called the Sports Authority Of India popularly known as SAI,
has many schemes like “you are the coach” for veteran Olympians and “come and
play scheme” for the children of Got employs children to learn and play at SAI.
These are measures which will
help the aspirants to full fill their dreams but at the same time India needs a
buff of energy where everyone is so proactive that they should keep the next
Olympics in mind and target to win more medals.
There are some horrific
incidents that are not good news; like MS Shanti Devi a great Kabaddi player
who won national Kabaddi championships in 1976 who served as a captain during
the period of 1983- 84 and she also had won a silver medal at the Guwahati
National Kabaddi league, now for the shocking part today this great sport
person is a vegetable vendor trying to meet her ends. MR. Kashaya Dadasaheb
Yadav, he was the first wrestler to win an individual medal at the Olympics,
later he joined the Police force as a Sub-Inspector, after his retirement, he
was denied of pension by the Government and had a sad demise due to ill-health,
even after his demise there was debate going on should the government confer
him a Padma award or not? Is it not disrespectful?
These are just some stories
which will startle us; there are many truths which we don’t even hear about.
Just take a glance at the US Government
benefits given to its Olympians:
All of the following services
are included in the figures for direct athlete support:
· “Athlete performance pool –
support training” (i.e. stipends)
· “Elite Athlete Health
Insurance & Other Medical Benefits for Athletes”
· “Operation Gold – awarding top
place finishes”
· “Tuition assistance to pursue
a college degree”
· And “Special grants not
already included above”
Source:
usatheltictrust.org
Also find the pie
chart of the detailed expensed published by the same website:
Our hockey team
used to win unanimously till 1982 after that the graph declined, which also
adds to the saddening part.
Predominantly
India is a cricket centred country and it is one of the best in the world. We
have to appreciate the best of efforts put in by the players to make our tri - coloured
flag fly high. At the same time we have to question about the progress of India
in other sports. India is failing to buck up in Olympics. It is easy for every
Tom Dick and Harry to sit and pass loose comments on India's performance in the
Olympics but none have till date understood why the failing is happening. After
the failure the immediate next thing we do is to blame. Blame the Government
and blame the players for having not done well at the biggest sports
extravaganza in the world. Few days later everything is as it is. But in fact,
every Indian citizen is to be blamed and has a role to play in the either success
or failure in every sport because; it belongs to each and every on.
We had filed an
RTI to find out what were the benefits that were given :
Let's address
about the current Govt., (the BJP led NDA Govt.,) that has announced several
schemes and revised several policies related to Youth affairs and Sports. This
should have given us some more medals. But we are happy and settled for two
medals. There has been something which has gone wrong miserably. Are the
schemes just for making the papers look glared!
It is for the
first time that the participant’s numbers crossed 100 and all were in a hope
that medal tally this time would be of double digits. Hopes were shattered.
Finally it was just two and not even a double figure. Recently there was an
article published in the TOI that a woman marathon runner was not provided with
water or any other energy drink where, designated stalls were kept by other
countries at regular intervals in the event but there was no stall from the
Indian side. How could anyone expect to win a medal where provision of basic
facilities failed? What were the officials doing that is the question that
needs to be asked seriously?
It's actually very
strange in India where, after the Olympics the winners were received back home
with all the due respects. Why can't they be provided with best of the
facilities prior and during the course of the event? This may lead to a sort of
"be happy with what you got" state and may not see try for
improvement.
Below, are the
suggestions we have prescribed to improve the current state of being of
sporting culture in our country:
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This is an article about how China is progressing
in the field of sports. We also could do some of those that they have only
when we slightly shift our focus from the IPL to other sports.
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Sports ministry this year gets an allocation of
Rs 1592 crore. What is only required is proper utilisation of this allocation
for the betterment of sport. Private players have to be roped in for the
funds for development of world-class sports complexes.
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Ultimately there has to be a strong political will
along with the change in the mind-set of the common people is very much
required for the betterment of sports. For a country like India with billions
of people which is cruising for the world power status will not be a
difficult task for it to become a sporting power of the world.
Fortunately/unfortunately everything is in our hands..!
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To conclude, we feel that it is ‘IMPLEMENTATION’ that is failing horribly. Every effort of the concerned who painstakingly work for the betterment of sports is actually going in vain. We see that there will be no better results if there is no realization in the implementation of the various benefits that are to be given for the improvement of the sportsmen. Addressing the root cause of the problem/issue/failure and implementation of the whole ball of wax is what is required for the progress of a country in all disciplines.
Thanks a lot for
your time
Living with hope.
Harish Murthy and
Tejus R.S
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