From the single minded pursuit of the 1000 plus break in competitivebilliards to being one of the founder members of the Olympic Gold Quest, thejourney has been quite interesting for Geet Sethi.
His initiative with Prakash Padukone helped India to itsmost successful trip to the Olympics. Speaking during the course of his visitto the state for the Chowgule College Founder’s day celebrations, he expressedhis happiness at the haul of medals by the athletes. He said “I am happy butyes I have to admit the fact that we did not win gold was disappointing. Whatis good however is the change in mentality of all the athletes. Participationis not a goal but winning is”.
When asked for the reason in this massive change in thementality of athlete he attributed it to the recognition of achievement beingaccorded to the winners and the creation of a system that assisted athletesgive off their best.
The Olympic Gold Quest will continue to focus on wrestling,archery, badminton, boxing, athletics and shooting. A couple of talented young athletes have beensigned up. PV Sindhu, the young badmintonstar has been signed to make a mark in 2016. Lakshya, a promising 10 year oldis being trained to make a mark in the 2020 Olympics.
Commenting on the poor performance of India in team sportsespecially the Indian hockey team he said it was a manifestation of the biasesand prejudices exhibited towards each other. The team , he said was after all was a reflection of the country. Asked if any Goan athlete had been signed up, hethought for a while and said “My silence is very revealing”.
