On saturday night we saw “Chak De”, a movie about 16 women hockey players from all over India, who with proper training from their coach go on to win the World Championship. After the movie, me and M had a discussion as to why sports in India only means cricket and why sports is not encouraged as a full time career in India..Cricket seems to be our national game..all the other sports are not given enough coverage or support…
Every time that we Indians return from the Olympics, there are heated arguments as to why we as a country with such a great population are not able to get a medal…The blame game starts and for some time committees are formed to study this matter…They all would like to know why a country like China can win medals and be near the top of the medal list and why we are nowhere to be seen in the medal list???…then after some time the whole story dies…and we go participate in yet another year of Olympics…
If we look at our sports persons, most of the them who represent India (in a sport other than cricket) are either from Kerala or Punjab or Chandigarh etc etc…why is that people from other states do not actively participate in sports…Is it that people in other states are not gutsy or is it that they want to continue in the same conventional safe life style…
Ask any parent on the plans for their child..he/she would definitely want their kid to be a doctor/Engineer/ MBA etc etc..There might be exceptions on this issue, but i am very sure that this percentage is very less or negligible…
Should we blame the Government for not supporting other games , recognising and support talent and not getting sufficient funds or should we blame the lack of sports persons (dont think this is the reason) or should we blame it on the lack of new blood…or maybe it is the case that talent is available but they are not able to afford the training or the amenities…
Whatever the case might be…ultimately the loser is Indian sports and the fact that we are not to be seen in the medal list…
Hmmmm interesting question. We can probably not afford the * hidden costs in playing the games. Nutrition in food is still the problem #1 for many. We are not as strong as the athletes must be!!
@srik: i dont really think strength is the problem, tennis requires a lot of stamina and somehow we are making a mark in that sport, Anju made a lil mark in long jump…hidden costs ..yes that is something …
the govt. is to blame and we too. frankly speaking i like hockey than cricket.
‘hidden costs’ well, if any game is to be supported, money has to go in eitherways. so we can as well encourage another game. our people are doing pretty well in other games-tennis, chess, hockey, long jump, snooker…. without much amount coming in from the govt. if indeed funds were alloted, they would definately do better.
we did win the asian cup for hockey. was the same hullabullo created? it was a major comeback for indian hockey. even if india wins a petty series against a particular country, we asee it being talkd about for days together. ridiculous!!