c

c cc c
c  c
c
Sports- a word originated from u
 basically means µleisure¶. But today is its meaning
confined to only as time-pass activity? Aint we listening to phrases like µnot just a game¶
µCricket is a religion¶ or µSoccer is my life¶.

u 
 
 
 
 
 u
 
  

We have been listening to similar sayings from elders since ages but it¶s been an object of
ridicule to me. Indians persuade their pupils to concentrate more on their academics than
sports. Emphasizing on bookish knowledge and believing that marks alone determines the
success in life is nothing more than a fallacy to me. It¶s very lamentable that parents consider
sports only as leisure activity and never think it as career option. Youngsters are not even
encouraged to charter a path leading to cricket world let alone other non-cricketing sports. In
spite of being the biggest democracy & second most populous country in the world India has
always been lagging behind many countries in the field of sports. Many students are not good
at studies; instead they don¶t want to study. They enamour playing but due to social pressure
and lack of encouragement they could neither make peace with game nor with studies
resulting in quashing of dreams & talents. One surely needs to have sufficient education in
his life but there is no use of making children toil so much in primary phase that they end up
spending most of their time among books. Sports play a pivotal role in shaping up young
minds. Desirable characteristics like discipline responsibility self-confidence team work
accountability sacrifice etc. can be well learnt & instilled very early in one¶s life through
sports that would help him even in the subsequent stages of his life.

It takes just 6 gms. of gold to lift the worth of a nation. But still after being over a billion we
could barely win couple of medals in Olympics or handful of them at other international
levels. One may blame corruption nepotism/favouritism red-tapism insufficient
infrastructure/resources improper utilisation of funds or lack of sponsors for the pitiable state
of Indian sports. Though these factors need to be handled root cause of the problem lies
somewhere else. It¶s the discouraging attitude both on the part of parents & most of the
schools which leads youngsters to nowhere in the sports arena. In most of the schools
playing during school hours is considered as secret sin something like an extramarital sex.
Only 4 weeks before any inter-school or district level competitions teachers and principals
will awake to need of µ  u      
u ¶ and would expect him to win
medals and laurels for the schools so that they could put them into their showcases or
cupboards to enhance the school¶s prestige & boast later on. Coming to societal level we
notice that a person is praised only when he makes it big. Say a person playing on
district/state level champion doesn¶t reap much praise and respect from the society and
remains a laughing stock for the people. And when the same person goes and proves his
mettle at international fronts he is showered with admiration & love and overnight he
becomes a subject for discussion. Such negative looks towards the good local players needs
to be changed.

To improve the nation in sports children must be encouraged to play more and inspired to
sport several games. Ideally everyone should play some kind of sports; else a pool of talent
can never be created. After all sports is yet another arena where nations compete to
demonstrate their talent pools & sporting prowess. It¶s not only about winning the game it¶s
about the pride it¶s about the joy and honour which comes with it when you claim the most
coveted title. Sports especially playing for one¶s nation should be respected at par with the
academics while thinking for pupil¶s career or life. India surely won¶t have been feeling
proud of the pearls like Sachin Tendulkar Vishwanathan Anand Prakash Padukone Saina
Nehwal or Leander Paes had they not been encouraged to pursue their dreams. Players named
here are those who started their preparations before they turned to double-digit age.

Does other sports suffer because of the huge popularity of Cricket in India? Well not exactly!
It should be kept in mind that a game becomes popular in the nation not by its good
infrastructure or governments¶ support but through the coveted wins by the sportspersons
belonging to same nation whom others emulate. After all how did cricket get so much
significance that it holds today? It must be recalled that till 1980 hockey was the most
popular sport in India. Indian hockey team have won 11 medals in row at Summer Olympics
which includes 8 gold 1 silver & 2 bronze medals. But after the (pan-India) advent of
Doordarshan in 1982 lifestyle of common man never remained same and neither the hockey
in India. With the sudden inspiring victories of Indian cricket team at the world cup in 1983
and subsequently at the B&H cup in 1985 cricket became the buzzword and lots of money
got pumped in through advertisements & funding. Since then cricket has been an apple of
eyes of all sports loving people & no other sport have been able to arouse enough interest
thereafter. So does that mean we don¶t act and keep lamenting over our fate? Well it¶s better
to light a candle than to curse the darkness!

Instead candle has already been lit; we are witnessing a change now! Despite all odds lots of
Indian players have made it to legion international platforms. Many (so-far unknown) faces
come up in media every other week with roaring successes in several unpopular games.
Vijendra Singh(Boxing) Mary Kom(Boxing) Sushil Kumar(Wrestling) Sania
Nehwal(Badminton) P.T Usha(Athlete) Anju Bobby George(Long Jump) etc. are epitome
of this who never let their hopes fade in spite of being with unpopular sports of India. By the
way Mary kom a Khel Ratna recipient has been a World Women Boxing Champion
(AIBA) for unprecedented four years in row and is also the first woman to receive prestigious
Arjun Award.
Several initiatives have been taken up by governments corporate/organisations and
individuals. Bharti foundation has pumped in over Rs.100 crores after signing MoU with
AIFF (All India Football Federation) for ©  u  to help country attain the
global standards.  u 
 ± a program has been taken off to help athletes
overcome physical technical or financial problems and to facilitate them to aim numero uno
position. Both central & several state governments now spend more on non-cricketing sports
infrastructure recognise good sportspersons with better rewards and have come up with
several incentive schemes for promoting non-cricketing sports. With the passage of time
mindset of the people is also changing. Much of the scenario has changed after diminutive yet
inspiring victories of Indian athletes at Beijing Olympics. Also hosting Commonwealth
games¶10 for the first time would surely help India to bring a hope amongst its countrymen &
realise them their own potential. Victories of Sania Mirza Pankaj Advani Saina Nehwal
Somdev Devvarman Jeev Milkha Singh Force India etc. have further helped garnering more
interest of people in non-cricket sports. These sports icons are perfect example for other
youngster to emulate as they have proved again and again that dedication and perseverance
does pay. More youngsters can now be seen on tennis & badminton courts billiards tables
golf courses rings or playing chess.

On a personal note (as far as unpopular non-cricketing sports are concerned) winning or
losing is a part of life but when you represent your country playing your best game on the
field should be the foremost duty of every sportsperson without considering or getting
influenced whether there is any audience to see admire or to take pride of them. Remember
the journey may be of thousand miles or ten thousand miles always starts with a single step.
And perhaps only god knows how many brilliant players of several games have we lost so
far in our habit of thinking otherwise or playing safe in life? The time has come that we
recognise our very own talents nurture them and support them in every possible manner to
help them flourish & blossom so that they could wave Indian flag at all international fronts
and get India its deserving place in the world. You may find it ridiculous but somewhere or
other I see an analogy between the current scenario of Indian sports and our then Indian
economy of 50s to 80s. We have been criticised then as slow paced-economy by calling our
growth as !u
    or


    but after the liberalisation we have
been growing by leaps and bounds. Currently we are the second fastest economy of the
world and fourth largest by PPP. Similarly if we set ourselves free from our conservative
mindset a day won¶t be far when we would see our athletes breaking several world-records
receiving numerous medals at every Olympic and hence making India a proud sporting
nation. A big Sports Revolution awaits you!

Keep believing!!!

 
   

  

  


-c Harry Emerson Fosdick