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| TICKET TO 2016 OLYMPICS |
Being an avid fan of sports writing anything on it gives me immense pleasure. The Asian Games 2014 has forced me to pen down something about this mega sporting event.
A spectacular ceremony at Incheon has brought an end to two weeks of intense competition, drama and controversy that shone a light on the best and worst of a region that will host the world's biggest events for the next decade.
Doing GOOOOOGLE for everything has become our daily lives habit...whether you agree or not but this is the hard truth. I am no different....doing the same before writing this piece about the 2014 Asian Games revealed altogether a different story.
We have the habit of making comparison.....India ended its 17th Asian Games campaign at the eighth spot on the medals tally, a drop of two positions from the previous edition of the mega-event which drew to a close with glittering ceremony in Incheon. India signed off with 57 medals -- 11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze. The tally dipped considerably compared to the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China where we had ended sixth with 65 medals -- 14 gold, 17 silver and 34 bronze.
My intention is not to pin point the number of medals that we lost or we remained short but to instill the habit in our athletes of winning medals. We won the Gold medal in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout to end 16 years drought if winning Gold in Hockey. We won both the Kabaddi Gold medals (Men &Women) and some of the medals in Individual games as well while some of the big names couldn't live to the expectation.
Winning should be the habit :
As a nation there are many question that flashes within second in mind that why the Nation of 1.25 billion people always stands from the bottom on podiums in medal tally ? Why the attitude of our sports authority are huffing and puffing to these games? Why the athletes don't get the basis infrastructures in such games with a hunger of "Go for Gold" ? There are many whys that need answers....!
A spectacular ceremony at Incheon has brought an end to two weeks of intense competition, drama and controversy that shone a light on the best and worst of a region that will host the world's biggest events for the next decade.
Doing GOOOOOGLE for everything has become our daily lives habit...whether you agree or not but this is the hard truth. I am no different....doing the same before writing this piece about the 2014 Asian Games revealed altogether a different story.
We have the habit of making comparison.....India ended its 17th Asian Games campaign at the eighth spot on the medals tally, a drop of two positions from the previous edition of the mega-event which drew to a close with glittering ceremony in Incheon. India signed off with 57 medals -- 11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze. The tally dipped considerably compared to the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China where we had ended sixth with 65 medals -- 14 gold, 17 silver and 34 bronze.
My intention is not to pin point the number of medals that we lost or we remained short but to instill the habit in our athletes of winning medals. We won the Gold medal in a nerve-wracking penalty shootout to end 16 years drought if winning Gold in Hockey. We won both the Kabaddi Gold medals (Men &Women) and some of the medals in Individual games as well while some of the big names couldn't live to the expectation.
Winning should be the habit :
As a nation there are many question that flashes within second in mind that why the Nation of 1.25 billion people always stands from the bottom on podiums in medal tally ? Why the attitude of our sports authority are huffing and puffing to these games? Why the athletes don't get the basis infrastructures in such games with a hunger of "Go for Gold" ? There are many whys that need answers....!
 Another GOLD for Mary Kom |
Perhaps this is the high time when we should avoid the habit of being complacent and look to improve this medal tally and try to bring more pride and glory to the country. Our sports authorities and sports ministry must introspect and the answer will be surely before us.
This is the irony of of our country that the athletes don't get the support as they want. The controversial bout of Sarita Devi was a candid example of that. Once she raised the voice for justice and truth our sports authorities were to take action against her was she in tears for no reason? The sports staffs enjoy the honeymoon period during these events and forget such incident by a fighter who gives everything (she was saying in an interview to a TV channel that her one and half year child doesn't recognize her because she was preparing for the bout since one year being away from home) to bring glory and pride for the country.
Lack of preparation, the huffing and puffing attitude of our sports authorities to these sports and the unavailability of basic infrastructures are the prime reasons that force us as a nation to finish low on podiums.
This is the irony of of our country that the athletes don't get the support as they want. The controversial bout of Sarita Devi was a candid example of that. Once she raised the voice for justice and truth our sports authorities were to take action against her was she in tears for no reason? The sports staffs enjoy the honeymoon period during these events and forget such incident by a fighter who gives everything (she was saying in an interview to a TV channel that her one and half year child doesn't recognize her because she was preparing for the bout since one year being away from home) to bring glory and pride for the country.
Lack of preparation, the huffing and puffing attitude of our sports authorities to these sports and the unavailability of basic infrastructures are the prime reasons that force us as a nation to finish low on podiums.
This attitude must be changed, the country is going through a transition period of change then why not to bring a change which may inculcate the habit of winning. The political pundits say that our Prime Minister is a great visionary...i urge him to make some vision for the sake of these sports and athletes as well.
Mr. Prime Minister is keen to make India of 21st century...hope he would pay attention on bringing glory to the country. It will certainly help bring more respect and pride. If we will provide the basic facilities to the athletes and groom them accordingly we may stand high headed in the medals tally.
Being an avid fan of sports these words seem harsh even to me but we as a nation have the habit of hoping and expecting more and more.
Look for Bright Future :
Our athletes win the medals, we feel proud, sometimes we see some officials going to the airport to receive the medlains. But there is different story behind winning the medlas for country, standing on the podiums, seeing the National Flag being hoisted on the tunes of National Anthem. Sometimes we should try to peep into the story behind the success.
Lots of hard work, dedication, devotion and fanatic love for the country propels an athlete to pour out their skin to get a medal. Those athletes hardly get the due credit and honour as they deserve. Rigorous training despite lack of basic facilities, concrete resolution and the faith in oneself yields an athlete among 1.25 billion people who brings honour and pride to the country.
Why not special coverage for Asian Games...why there is no live telecast of Asian Games on our National Television ; If our national channel DD can cover more than one hour speech of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and the PMO can retweet his speech why this step-mother behaviour to those athletes who give everything to bring pride to the country ? There are many whys and we always strive for an answer...still waiting and will this wait end ?
The Govt must work out to build training camps in every state and districts of the country to churn out the athlete and better this medal tally. Working on paper will never yield athletes and medals for country but the ground work will. A hunger must be invoked in the desired athletes to give out their skin to "Go for Gold". The win- win word must be in the lexicon of every athlete and the Government and every citizen of this country must pay the due respect to every athlete they deserve in whichever manner they want.
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom popularly known as MC Mary Kom would have hardly earned so much money doing boxing in her entire life while Priyanka did by acting in a biopic inspired by her life. I wish the adequate royalty would have been paid to her.
This is the irony of our country that the athletes don't get the due credit what they deserve. But thanks to those directors who are making such movies by which the nation has come to known about Milkha Singh, Pan Singh Tomar, Mary Kom and many more in the queue .
With a hope that Incheon has brought glory and pride to our country and Indonesia, the hosts of the next Asian Games in 2018 will bring more glory and medals if the attitude of our sports authority change in coming years. We must hope for the change in attitude and medal tally both !!!
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| GOLDEN MOMENT IN KABADDI |
Lots of hard work, dedication, devotion and fanatic love for the country propels an athlete to pour out their skin to get a medal. Those athletes hardly get the due credit and honour as they deserve. Rigorous training despite lack of basic facilities, concrete resolution and the faith in oneself yields an athlete among 1.25 billion people who brings honour and pride to the country.
Why not special coverage for Asian Games...why there is no live telecast of Asian Games on our National Television ; If our national channel DD can cover more than one hour speech of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and the PMO can retweet his speech why this step-mother behaviour to those athletes who give everything to bring pride to the country ? There are many whys and we always strive for an answer...still waiting and will this wait end ?
The Govt must work out to build training camps in every state and districts of the country to churn out the athlete and better this medal tally. Working on paper will never yield athletes and medals for country but the ground work will. A hunger must be invoked in the desired athletes to give out their skin to "Go for Gold". The win- win word must be in the lexicon of every athlete and the Government and every citizen of this country must pay the due respect to every athlete they deserve in whichever manner they want.
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom popularly known as MC Mary Kom would have hardly earned so much money doing boxing in her entire life while Priyanka did by acting in a biopic inspired by her life. I wish the adequate royalty would have been paid to her.
This is the irony of our country that the athletes don't get the due credit what they deserve. But thanks to those directors who are making such movies by which the nation has come to known about Milkha Singh, Pan Singh Tomar, Mary Kom and many more in the queue .
With a hope that Incheon has brought glory and pride to our country and Indonesia, the hosts of the next Asian Games in 2018 will bring more glory and medals if the attitude of our sports authority change in coming years. We must hope for the change in attitude and medal tally both !!!
