When PV Sindhu
meticulously matched the aggression of the World Champ from Spain with her
Roaring shots in the women single’s badminton finals and successfully managed
to secure a Silver Medal for herself in Rio, all eyes from India stick to the
Live Feed on TVs, As though Sindhu was playing for 1.28 Billion faces to be
saved from embarrassment back in India. Though she was representing her country
but surely she didn’t played for hidden aspirations of millions of reluctant
sportsmen who choose secured jobs over shaky untenable sportsman’s career. It is this indifferent attitude of our
society which has created an aura of negativity and inferiority towards sports
in India, which in turn stops youngsters to venture out in sports. Whereas
Govt. spending in sports has doubled in past decade but lack of proper talent
coming toward sports has restricted India’s performance at world level to a
meagre standard.
Ironically Indian
families enjoy watching Live Sports on TV together, but not many wants their
kids to take up sports professionally. If some one dares to take up sports as
his or her career, it’s not easy for them to sustain in an unsupportive
annoying and sometime disgusting anti-sports environment in the country. Media
reports on regular basis such cases, where a budding sportsman has to work as a
daily laborer or peddler to arrange for his daily proper diet or for is
conveyance. Time and again many Olympians had had complained about the
prevailing sports management system at government level, which functions in an
unprofessional and disarrayed manner, where impropriety, nepotism is a standard
operating procedure of high rank officials. This is what a world level wrestler
Tiger Singh has witnessed and felt in his two decades of sprawling career. He
mentions times and instances when he even couldn’t afford for his own airfare
and has to face discrimination.
He says if govt. can
provide or instil some sense of security into the minds of the kids who are
passionate about sports the whole scenario can get changed. Sportsmen at
whichever level they are, if given assurance of support and provided with
grooming can bring accolades for the country. Tiger Singh says this is the
difference which puts Indian athletes behind of their international
counterparts. It’s the support system which makes a difference.
Perhaps this is the main
reason why in India most of the prospecting and talented kids opt out of sports
at an early stage of their life. It is this reason why parents crush their
children’s dream at an infant stage. In doing so we unconsciously restrict our
own prospects in sports, how can we blame our sportsmen for non-performance if
we couldn’t send own kids to play.
