On Saturday Neeraj Chopra created history bybeing the first athlete representing India to win an Olympic medal in a trackand field event sending the entire country into a wild euphoria. Neeraj’s throwof 87.58 metres achieved at his second attempt was enough to ensure that thefirst gold medal the country achieved helped India leapfrog into the top 50countries in the final standing besides also giving India its best-ever medaltally at the Olympic games.
Chopra has succeeded after years of practice andbeing honed by the Army as well as training abroad under the guidance of aforeign coach, himself a world record holder. While the achievements of thecurrent Olympic contingent will go down in history as one of the greatest everto represent the country despite all the odds they faced, at some stage, we asa country need to stop romanticizing the struggle and poverty that athleteshave overcome to be present on the world stage. Rather, we must beginquestioning why in this day and age athletes still have to encounter hardshipsif they wish to excel.
In fact, if one compares the final medals tallywith the GDP of the respective country, India stands out as being the onlycountry whose GDP is among the top ten in the world, but whose medal tally doesnot figure in the top ten. Every other country has sporting achievements tomatch the progress they have made on the economic front over the last severalyears. India is an anomaly. From that perspective, India has hugelyunderachieved.
And besides celebrating, announcing cashrewards, and falling over each other to claim credit, little else is being doneto improve sports in the country. Even individual athletes who wish to excel inthe discipline of their choice have to, more often than not, go and trainabroad in the absence of facilities here. The only notable exception has beenbadminton and tennis where badminton academies which are largely individual orprivate initiatives have sprung up and have provided a healthy supply oftalent.
Many have suggested that the exploits of themen’s and women’s hockey teams at Tokyo will prompt many a young lad and lassto pick up a hockey stick and take a liking for the sport that India oncedominated. But that’s only until one realises that even if youngsters areinspired to take to hockey, they have nowhere to go with modern facilitiesbeing almost non-existent except in a few states like Odisha, Punjab andHaryana among others.
It’s time we start holding our government toaccount for its criminal neglect of sports. At the cost of repeating what hasbeen often repeated especially after an underwhelming performance, sports iscompletely neglected and instead suffers from apathy, corruption, and people atvarious levels only seeking to see how money can be made from it rather thanproducing champions.
Youngsters are often abused, neglected and putup in shoddy accommodation when they travel for tournaments leaving many withno option but to back out of following the sport. To top it all, even thelittle money that the government sanctions for sports with siphoned off byunscrupulous officials giving the athletes the raw end of the deal.
It’s amiracle then that India has managed to achieve what they have during thejust-concluded games. Unless a culture of sporting excellence is promoted withthe facilities to match the available talent India will continue tounderachieve.
