Sunday Snippets
By Venkatesh Raghavan
I am reminded of two long conversations I had with my friend and schoolmate Arun about the very shallow show Indians put up at successive Olympics. In the sixties it was somewhat good with the contingent showing strength in hockey. However, post the era of domination in world hockey, Indian Olympic contingents had no claim to any success. It was the post mid-eighties era when I was doing my engineering from a local college in rural Maharashtra, namely Shegaon. I was seated with Arun on the Gymkhana walls, having returned from my hostel life for a vacation. Arun suggested, “I think cricket should be introduced in the Olympics. That way India might stand a chance to gain a medal.”
I asked Arun, “Do you think teams preparing for Olympic level competition will come without preparation as it happens most of the times with Indian sportspersons? In my opinion, India has never been a sporting nation and it will take a lot more, perhaps a revolution of sorts, to change our thinking patterns and get our youth to be sports-oriented.” Arun asked me “Where do you expect to get funds for such a high level performance?” I replied, “Look what happened after India won the World Cup cricket in 1983? Till then there was very little interest anyone had in following India’s fortunes in One Day Internationals (ODIs). As of now India’s performance in each and every ODI is being keenly watched. In addition to the enthusiasm this sport has generated, there are a lot of ancillary and supporting industries that have sprung up to capitalise on the popularisation of this format of the game in India.”
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“Do you suggest that India win a medal in each and every Olympic event in order to popularise sports in this country?” queried Arun. “Nothing of that sort, Arun. I am suggesting we have funding for sports on a public-private partnership basis that will encourage sportsmen and women from different ilk to participate and achieve fame and glory for our country. Let’s take the instance of polo or say golf. Right now these are regarded as elite class sports. However, if we are able to use our electronic media to give adequate attention to popularising these sports, I am sure, over a period of time, we will be in a position to throw up quality professionals. The first thing to get into the groove as a sporting nation is getting into the act of popularising sports. This can also be achieved by using a dedicated sports channel that gives adequate coverage to all sporting events.”
“I feel there’s a high level of insecurity among Indian families to allow their wards to pursue a sporting career, ignoring academics. This might be coming in the way of popularisation as you suggest,” responded Arun. “Talking about insecurity Arun, other than government servants, no one in our country gets any security benefits. Even our retired cricketers like Farooq Engineer or say Bishen Singh Bedi have to rely on benefit matches played in their name for security after they age. I am sure, as our interests diversify and sporting activities increase, our sportsmen and women themselves will come out with schemes to protect the interests of ageing sportspersons.”
Looking back, more than four decades have passed and a host of single swallow instances like Abhinav Bindra, PV Sindu and Saina Nehwal have come up with spark. However, it’s still a long way from transforming India into a sporting nation.
