As a nation, India was subjected to a lot of alien power in the past and it has been suppressed throughout many generations. Being a land of one billion people with varied languages, cultures and customs, there are also varied interests. India has always been a source of inspiration in its non-violent policies to the entire world. Having such a vast population, there is so much of potential in the people of India. Indians have achieved and made a place for themselves in every sector whether it is science/ technology, medicine, astronomy, inventions or even in the field of sports.
Although there are many sporting events in the country, prominence is mostly given to cricket. Cricket is considered as a religion in India, where ‘Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’ is considered as God. There is a lot of hue and cry over cricket matches in our country. I personally have to admit that I’m a crazy cricket fan and I’m stuck in front of the ‘idiot box’ all through the day just to cheer our team- the ‘Men in Blue’ to beat the opposition team, black and blue, with sixes and fours, just like the rest of India.
Crackers are burst to celebrate the joy of winning a cricket match throughout the country and even congratulatory messages are passed while distributing sweets. No doubt cricket unites the land of billion people who are divided on infinite reasons like caste; color; creed; but I feel, in order to become a sporting super power, India has to give equal importance to the other sports prevailing in the country.
Unlike China which swept most of the gold, silver and bronze medals, followed by USA which gave it a tough competition in the last Olympics, India made its maiden entry with a gold medal- Abhinav Bindra in the Olympics for shooting and Vijender Singh won the bronze medal in boxing too.
As the proverb says ‘something is better than nothing’. After the last Olympics performance, to see its rivals China and USA and very small nations bag so many medals, at last it made the Indian government and its citizens seriously think about the encouragement of other sports in the country.
The Indian government and the BCCI spends crores of rupees on the cricketers to perform well but most of the capital and advertisements are only concentrated merely in the hands of the cricketers whereas sportsman from the game of hockey, which is the national game of India. Kabbadi, football, boxing, badminton and swimming have now taken the back seat. Many athletes are not even paid their due and are battling to meet their daily needs. Few athletes have even committed suicide in the past. The scenario is bad even in cricket as the selectors seem to demand lots of money from aspiring players to let them be a part of the Indian team and lot of talent which is mostly hidden in the rural areas remains undiscovered and without encouraged.
We are not far from getting the title of being the most populated country in the world by 2020 by beating China. But what exactly is stopping us to be a sporting super power even after having so much of talent and resources even as China is bagging medals in every event?
The answer to this question lies in our system. We all remember the scam behind the 2010 CWG- Common Wealth Games and crores of rupees being eaten up by the corrupt officials in the government.
In order to stop all this, the government has to make the laws strict to keep the corrupt officials at bay.
As being an avid cricket fans, we all remember the IPL 3 controversy regarding Mr. Lalit Modi’s participation (chairman of IPL) in the game. But, the government did a good job in stripping his powers and RTI- Right to Information Act has come to handy use again.
Other than keeping the game clean by eradicating corruption, the government has to take many measures so that India will surely become a sporting super power. Some of them are:
The government has to set up many committees at both regional level both in urban and rural areas which will bring out the budding talent among the children and the youth like as it is said: a diamond has to go through many process before it becomes a diamond. So, the government has to polish the talent to make it shine and to represent India at international level.
The present reigning boxing champion has complained that he had to practice in a very old house to achieve his goal. With so many resources at hand, the government has to provide better facilities for the sportsman.
There is a lot of biasing towards cricket in the country. Many sporting events are not even published on TV leave alone radio or other mass media. Even in newspapers, cricket occupies a large amount of space in the sports column. In such a case, the government has to take proper measures in giving equal opportunity in prompting different sport events. Thus, creating awareness among its citizens.
The government also havs to allocate proper funds and payments to all the sporting events. In Bangalore, there is a swimming club which has become as good as the drainage. The government must not allow such things to happen in the future.
Except the government, even the parents have to encourage their kids in other sport activities other than cricket and encourage kids to take it up as a career. In such a way, we can see many Bhutia’s, Sachin’s and Saina Nehwal’s arising in our country.
We all remember the glorious World Cup of 1983, where India won the Cup, likewise, lets achieve as many World Cups’ as possible in other sporting events and give China a tough competition in the next Olympics and make India a sporting super power.
ARTICLE BY: R.V MADHURI
II B.A (H.E.E)
