INDIA , Y U NO WIN MANY MEDALS !!!!

The question which should be on every Indian’s mind –“Why is a country with a population of 1.22 billion going gaga over a mere 6 medals that they won at Olympics 2012?” Yes, I am talking about India and if you have any other country in mind following the above criteria, then shame on them too. The point is that even after having skilled and talented sportspersons we could manage only 4 bronze and 2 silver medals. So what do we lack? Proper Training? Selfless sportsmanship spirit? Funding? Publicity and Marketing?

I would like to use a few instances to explain my argument.

1.

A week or two before the Olympics started, Mahesh Bhupathi said that he wouldn’t play with ‘backstabber’ Leander Paes and that he should be teamed up with Bopanna with whom he has been playing for quite some time. The board quickly obliged and then to appease Paes (who undoubtedly was fuming) gave him Sania as a partner for the mixed doubles. To this, Sania quickly retorted that she was being used a bribe to keep Paes from creating any outrage. Feminists rallied to this comment and the total scenario now changed to a non-sports event with Kiran Bedi and other notable women praising Sania’s guts to announce this in the media.

A classic situation of poor management and ego-clashes. What the AITA (All India Tennis Association) board should have done is lock Bhupathi and Paes together and explain that they had to forget their differences and play for the country so that we have a better chance of winning, after all they are not 5 year olds who go and complain about each other to their parents. But instead they thought that a quick give in to the demands was a better option and solve all their problems. I’m stressing on the point that it’s not that AITA didn’t try, but they should have tried harder.

And the result –

 1) Bhupathi - Bopanna crash out in 2^nd round of the tournament itself.

 2) Paes – Vishnuvardhan crash out in 2^nd round of the tournament too.

 3) Paes – Sania crash out in the quarterfinals of Mixed Doubles.

2.

Abhinav Bindra finished a horrendous 16^th in the qualification round of 10m air-rifle event. Well believe it or not the defending Olympic gold medallist has put the blame for his dismal performance on his spectacles. Unfortunately drinking ‘yak’ milk to enhance concentration and sleeping between red ants just to see ‘how long he could hold on’ doesn’t help in improving sight. So essentially these methods he used for the past year were actually useless (kill me if you didn’t understand that by reading it at first itself) in fact he would be better off practicing at the shooting range.

3.

Deepika Kumari ranked world no.1 in women’s archery said in a TV Interview that she could not perform well as she had problem predicting the London wind and had never played in front of such a huge crowd. Being a world no.1 I don’t think she has any right to give such lame excuses but given that she is only 18 and immature, the Archery Association of India should take immediate steps to appoint a trainer to coach these talented young archers.

"It might sound stupid but I never competed in surroundings like the one at Lord's. In World Cups and other majors, the initial rounds are held simultaneously, but in London all the matches were organised separately and in front of a packed and noisy crowds. We could not perform in the din and crumbled under pressure. It shows how weak mentally we were," she said.

You are right Deepika it does sound extremely stupid, were you competing with the kids of the gali when you became ranked no.1!!!

Well we can’t always blame the boards for the failure of the stars. We as viewers attach least importance and priority to watch any sports event other than cricket. In fact I doubt that most of us even know on which channel the athletics, hockey or other sports like boxing are shown or if they are even telecasted.
 We often blame the social media that they don’t attach enough importance on other sports, but the media generally wants more and more viewers and they know that showing a small feature of Dhoni would attract more TRP than maybe a year of boxing and other sports reports. In fact often in Facebook there is a shared photo of how the women’s team was not even sent a car to be picked up from the airport. The only response that provokes from our side is “Like”.

I sum it up by saying that for the situation to improve, we need good if not great coaches, grooming of players and a sizable amount of financial backing and sponsorships, which is if we even plan to give any competition to the other countries in Olympics and similar events.

Please use the comments forum to let me know what you feel about this issue.