“Be the change
that you want to see”
-M.K.
Gandhi.
India is a country with great
hopes. It hopes to be a superpower when it cannot stop a crumbling democratic
system filled with INFLUENCED people. It is also a country that basks in its
past glory for far too long refusing to move on. Yet it can surprise you with
its resolve and talent. Indian sports, just like the county, is a bundle of
talent but not quite up there with the best with what they simply call in
cricket, “big match temperament”. The story of Indian athletes in the 30th
London Olympic Games is also the same.
India sent its largest
contingent of players to the quadrennial event and returned with 6 medals. Is
that good enough? Well, technically India equaled the no of medals it collected
in 4 previous games in one event, but we still had a feeling that we could have
done better. That we hoped for more medals itself a big step forward to a
nation that always prays for one medal to prevent us from total embarrassment. Initiatives
like the “Olympic Gold Quest” have been instrumental for the record tally. If
we go in depth of the performance of Indian athletes, barring Mary Kom, Saina
Nehwal and Sushil Kumar, very few lived up to their expectations. From Archery
to Hockey, one can clearly see the lack of temperament when delivering at the
grandest stage of them all. To me, Archery was the biggest disappointment. They
had all the talent and training but none could even come closer to sniff a
medal. So much for being descendents of Arjuna. Expecting a medal from hockey
was outrageous but the way they played was an embarrassment for the 8 time Olympic
champions. Move on you idiots. Hockey has ceased to playing in grass. It is artificial
turf where organization plays an important and Indians play like they played in
1940’s. Grow up..! He’s never been as committed to the cause as he should have been
and that could be the reason why he won’t be ranked among India’s finest sports
persons. Gold in Beijing and failure to qualify for the final in London,
Abhinav Bindra’s dad-influenced life style will only take him so much and his
lack of committed training has cost him and the country. But what he couldn’t, Gagan Narang did. He
was always destined for Olympic success but his temperament kept failing him before.
But with a steady improvement, he will make a bigger mark in Rio 2016. Yogheshwar
Dutt and Vijay Kumar are the surprise packages. May be they had it in them and maybe
it’s a good thing that they were not spotted by the media glare, but they made
the difference between India’s lackluster performance and a commendable one. She
is a supermom and now she is India’s super lady. M.C Mary Kom, finally got her
rightful place in the hearts of Indian people. It’s bitter though, what an Olympic
bronze could do what 5 world championship Gold could not. For long, Saina
Nehwal is destiny’s child and she will continue to be at least till Rio. Critics
may point out that she was lucky, but the very fact that the Chinese selected
their Olympic women’s badminton team based on who beat Saina Nehwal previously,
shows that she deserved the bronze. That Saina did not take the other girl from
Hyderabad; Sania’s route has been good both for her and the nation. He may have
lost to the World No 1 ranked player in the quarterfinals but P.Kashyap showed
to the rest of the Indian contingent how to gain respect even while losing. So
did the Indian male boxers, no dearth of effort from them. They had been
unlucky too. Indian Tennis embarrassed itself in front of the world even before
the games and its best not to talk about it. So finally, the man who held the
flag aloft in the opening ceremony did the same on the final day. Sushil Kumar
will go down as one of India’s greatest athletes and a true inspiration for
generations of sportspersons. He surprised everyone with a bronze in Beijing
and proved to be no flash in the pan which a better showing in London. But for
a freak injury, he could have achieved the pinnacle. But the way he handled
himself in these 4 years speaks volumes of the man. Expect big things from him
in the future.
Most of us would have read anarticle in the Hindu by Nirmal Shekar. I beg to differ with the author on most
parts. True we are a Cricket mad country but things are changing now. We spoke
more about the Games rather than the India-SL series in social networking which
we would not have under normal circumstances. With cricket getting cheaper and
cheaper by the year, the interest is naturally shifting and there was a wave of
interest for the Olympics this time unlike any time before. In the midst of
this wave of hope, Shekar comes up with an article which was intended to do one
thing and one thing only, to sell. He talks about how Mary Kom would be running
pillar to post for gas cylinders and Yogeshwar walking to a tea stall. With
plaudits and prize moneys pouring in for the athletes, Yogheshwar can own a
coffee shop and Mary, a life time supply of gas. What I hated was the fact that
in times of hope, here’s someone who starts to lament again. It takes quite a
bit to beat a beast like Cricket but hey, David did slay Goliath isn’t it? In a
way, Nirmal is helping Cricket in hindsight by keeping the focus on it rather
than the medal winners. He could do well to read Gandhi’s famous caption that I’ve
quoted. We have to embrace the winners, criticize the losers and talk about
these sports nonstop just like how we do for Cricket. The athletes need out
support as much as we need them to win medals. The ovation that the medals
winners and the glorious losers got on their arrival showed people are ready to
accept the change. Move on Mr Shekar, go whine about it in solitude.
