Over the next fortnight or so 81 Indian athletes will compete in London, a few thousand Indians will root for them at the stadiums, and about a billion in India will have overwhelming hopes pinned up! There are reasons to believe why these 2 weeks could be the game changer for sports in India - not only do we have a the largest contingent in our history, we also have athletes with realistic medal-winning possibilities. Indian participation at the Olympics now is ‘expected’ to win medals and not ‘hope-to-do-so’, the build-up has been injury-free and there is a buzz about the contingent.
There would be a few who wouldn’t want to believe the rosy side of the story, and rightly so. India has a track record of less than a medal at an Olympic, India’s highest tally is 3 at a single edition and India has participation at only 50% events that would be organized at London. Realistically we don't have too many out of the 81 with a strong medal contention. Given India’s history at the games, there would a few who would support the athletes only once they notch up numbers on the medals tally. South Africa’s sports minister bid their contingent expecting 12 medals, we are left to wonder whether Ajay Maken would really want to predict a number.
Athletes pride on participating at the Olympics for doing that is an achievement in itself, a podium finish is the icing on the cake. The Indian contingent has a few who are participating at this event for the first time and you don’t need to search for the joy on their faces. They would be aware of the massive hopes that are pinned up against their names, they would be aware that all their competitors would be tough to beat, they would be aware that this could be their moment for lifetime!
Indian Olympic sports have had and continue to have a problem of less participation and too many expectations. A medal finish is what each one of the 81 would be playing for, but to expect those many would be unreal and a bit outrageous. Abhinav Bindra, Vijendar Singh, Sushil Kumar weren’t celebrated names before Beijing 2008 but at the end of it we had these 3 as our poster boys! It is a fact (and not a mere statement) that India does not have a rich sporting culture, London 2012 could be the game changer; the moment to witness the Indian flag unfurl and the anthem being played at the medal distribution ceremonies has been a rare and scarce event for Indian fans, these Summer Olympics could raise that frequency; Indian fans are left to wonder why they couldn’t have more reasons to celebrate after an Olympics edition, this August we could probably end up discussing London Olympics and not about any Indian cricket news!
Wishes are pouring in, theme songs are being played all over, sports pages have no space for cricket, sports slots on TV can’t seem to get over Sainas and Vijenders of the world and websites seem to be abuzz with Olympics news, views and previews! India’s approach to an Olympic event hasn’t been as euphoric (if I can exaggerate it a bit!) as this, touchwood this momentum translates into something really big, something really memorable and a transformation that our budding athletes and ignored sports deserve. India may end up winning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or even more medals, but what will never cease to falter is the unsatiated Indian fan! In a country that has a weak history an Olympic medal is a huge achievement for people to be inspired and that discipline to have a legend; let us build up to 27th July hoping for new legends to incarnated and under-followed sports to receive their moment of fame and glory!
There would be a few who wouldn’t want to believe the rosy side of the story, and rightly so. India has a track record of less than a medal at an Olympic, India’s highest tally is 3 at a single edition and India has participation at only 50% events that would be organized at London. Realistically we don't have too many out of the 81 with a strong medal contention. Given India’s history at the games, there would a few who would support the athletes only once they notch up numbers on the medals tally. South Africa’s sports minister bid their contingent expecting 12 medals, we are left to wonder whether Ajay Maken would really want to predict a number.
Athletes pride on participating at the Olympics for doing that is an achievement in itself, a podium finish is the icing on the cake. The Indian contingent has a few who are participating at this event for the first time and you don’t need to search for the joy on their faces. They would be aware of the massive hopes that are pinned up against their names, they would be aware that all their competitors would be tough to beat, they would be aware that this could be their moment for lifetime!
Indian Olympic sports have had and continue to have a problem of less participation and too many expectations. A medal finish is what each one of the 81 would be playing for, but to expect those many would be unreal and a bit outrageous. Abhinav Bindra, Vijendar Singh, Sushil Kumar weren’t celebrated names before Beijing 2008 but at the end of it we had these 3 as our poster boys! It is a fact (and not a mere statement) that India does not have a rich sporting culture, London 2012 could be the game changer; the moment to witness the Indian flag unfurl and the anthem being played at the medal distribution ceremonies has been a rare and scarce event for Indian fans, these Summer Olympics could raise that frequency; Indian fans are left to wonder why they couldn’t have more reasons to celebrate after an Olympics edition, this August we could probably end up discussing London Olympics and not about any Indian cricket news!
Wishes are pouring in, theme songs are being played all over, sports pages have no space for cricket, sports slots on TV can’t seem to get over Sainas and Vijenders of the world and websites seem to be abuzz with Olympics news, views and previews! India’s approach to an Olympic event hasn’t been as euphoric (if I can exaggerate it a bit!) as this, touchwood this momentum translates into something really big, something really memorable and a transformation that our budding athletes and ignored sports deserve. India may end up winning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or even more medals, but what will never cease to falter is the unsatiated Indian fan! In a country that has a weak history an Olympic medal is a huge achievement for people to be inspired and that discipline to have a legend; let us build up to 27th July hoping for new legends to incarnated and under-followed sports to receive their moment of fame and glory!
No comments:
Post a Comment