We missed the Gold in Paris. Our best hope, Neeraj Chopra, fell short on the day which mattered the most. He had to settle for a silver medal, with Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem majestically walking away with the Gold. He deserved it. Or rather Pakistan deserved it very badly, their very first Olympics gold — forget hockey, the Pak team did not even make the cut to Paris. Deep in the entrails of all sorts of economic, political and social troubles that it knows not a way to get out of it needed, even if as transitory as an Olympics gold, to rejoice over collectively. To Chopra’s credit, despite a recurring groin injury he managed to win the silver-medal. He won the gold in Tokyo three years ago (the Olympics, held every four years, had to be put off for a year due to the global Corona virus pandemic). That would be the only silver medal in India’s bag at the Paris Games — the decision on Vinesh Phogat’s qualification at least for a silver medal will be known tomorrow. For the rest, there were five bronze medals for a country as big as India.
Editorial: Vinesh Phogat Is A Winner Though Not A Medallist
Of course, we mention Swapnil Kusale, the Pune lad, who did the country proud in the 50-metre rifle shooting event, bagging a bronze. The Maharashtra government has announced a Rs 1 crore cash prize and the Railways an out-of-turn promotion. Given that members of the winning 1983 team who were promised all sorts of cash and in kind prizes by various central and state governments were eventually denied the promised goodies, it is hoped that the relevant authorities in Kusale’s case will keep their word. We could have avoided the partisan potshots the Opposition in and outside Parliament deemed it fit and proper to take at the Government without being mindful even slightly about the truth.
Meanwhile, we don’t have the sports culture at all. Sports-wise, if there is anything to show, it is cricket all the way. So much so all other team and individual sports and suffer for want of money and mental orientation. Even the official focus when it comes to sports remains fixed on cricket. In fact, it is not about sports at all. As a people we lack the fitness culture, the ingrained feeling in the society at large to keep oneself physically fit and smart, up and running. That is something which is ingrained in the western mind. You can find five-year-olds and men and women well into their 70s and 80s doing some form of exercise in public parks, gyms and even at home. The urge to maintain a happy and active body and mind is missing from the popular Indian psyche.
Editorial: Shooting – The Bronze That Feels Like Gold
Thanks to the infusion of telecast money into cricket, we have seen the mass sport take hold of our very young even in remote village schools and shanty towns. Every parent aspires his child to become a Sachin Tendulkar. At the back of their mind probably lies the big bucks our cricketers get even at the Ranji level. Also, success on the global scale has helped popularise badminton too. P V Sindhu is a recognisable name as well. But the pride of place is still reserved for a Sachin Tendulkar — and not PT Usha, the track and field star of yesteryear — and the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Without in anyway detracting from the popularity of cricket, the sports authorities in schools and universities have to begin to lay emphasis on track and field games as well. How a small part of the corporate social responsibility funds can be allocated to encourage such basic activities as cross-country running, boxing, wrestling, archery, etc — all sports requiring very little spends on equipment — ought to help take the Olympics spirit into our small towns and villages, into our public consciousness. It is notable that after the stupendous success of the IPL at the national level several states have begun to organise their own competitions based on the IPL model. The other day, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that a relatively small town like Kanpur in UP has its own district-level IPL competition where the prize money for winners was nearly a crore of rupees. Clearly, without popular participation the area-specific cricket leagues could not have made much headway.
Why not hold such annual competition for all track and field events where athletes from all over the country could compete for sizable monetary prizes. It is an initiative waiting for some public-spirited corporate biggie to take and thus set the trend a la the IPL. The basic idea is to inculcate in our young, nay, very young that a) there is a place for sports other than cricket, and b) no sport would suffer for want of funds. Talent-spotting and talent-honing should begin at an early age as it does in the sports-minded cultures in the western countries. Fortunately, we have a large segment of our population which seeks to assimilate the values of the western culture. We can pin our hopes on those among our well-to-do professionals and other deep-pocketed individuals to sponsor in neighbourhood schools an annual prize for the fastest child, or the best swimmer or a badminton player, etc. What is required is a public consciousness for physical fitness and the desire to excel in sports. Academic authorities at every level can imbibe the Olympics spirit given encouragement, and the due monetary push, by the educational bureaucracy.
Meanwhile, we should learn from Paris. They spent minimum possible money for maximum possible fun games. And would not be left saddled with white elephants like the Nehru Stadium and other tottering structures from the scam-marred Commonwealth Games.
