Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Sports cursed by Indian Politics

In India sports and politics are closely knitted. Though it is not a but natural relation. The 'curse' of politics is thrust upon it, as it is the case with most of the institutions, government/non-government, social and cultural bodies in India. But in case of Sports, cancerous presence of politics is causing direct and straight harm. We see until a politician isn't gray haired, he's deprived of important responsibilities. This malicious approach is being adopted in Sports too, causing India's dismal show in almost all major sports events. These grayed uncles can't really take a bold decision. Or even do not wish to do so may be the case also.

I strongly believe that with over a billion population we have enough talent which is having the potential to beat the bests in the battleground. But to dig that cutting edge potential and push it on the battle ground really needs substantial sincerity and honesty. I've been keeping an eye in recent Olympic games where I see whatever we've got to cheer about was solely extraordinary effort of the players.

Be that Mr. Paes who ended a drought of emptiness in 1996, after a prolonged vacuum since 1980, by winning a bronze in Tennis singles event. That was a great contribution of Mr. Paes. Especially with a well known fact that Mr Leander Paes has never been a good player of singles ever as far as world tennis is concerned. This was his great effort and we owe a lot to this fighter. May be we hear that he has won a mixed doubles title of US open with Zimbabwean Clara Black very soon.

Be that Ms Karnam Malleswari who won a Bronze in Sydney Olympics in 2000 in weightlifting event. That was her bravery, IOC or others has nothing to cheer about that. After Sydney Olympics many of us would have thought that now weightlifting will get some attention, but courtesy to our federations, this sport is being forcefully drown. We can see Monica Devi fake dope charge controversy.

Be that Mr. Rajya Bardhan Rathore, who being an army personal was able to tackle all the odds, shot a Silver, a lone Silver that India ever got till date. Shooting was in rounds for very long now. We've had Jaspal Rana, Anjali Bhagwat and many more who were there to hit small targets in smaller events but never got a cutting edge support from the politics driven sports administration.

Abhinav Bindra, Gold hitting Shooter in Beijing 2008, is not an exception as far as sports administration is concerned. But he is an exception with his exceptional personal effort. It is well known that he got that extra killer instinct with the quality exposure he got in trainings abroad after investing loads of money. Other then Mr. Bindra none of the Shooters were there even in Top 8s, 9th being Mr. Gagan Narang in one of his participations.

The feet of Bhiwani's boxing champs and Delhi's Mahabali are also after their own extra efforts. If the boxers were having their dream to bring glory to their boxing cultured families, then Sushil Kumar's target to bring his Guru Satpal's honour back.

The real problem I feel is an unenthusiastic head is leading the agitated blood of youth. Worse is the politics. Monica Devi controversy suggests we shouldn't expect much from London too. Anything can happen as it happened with weightlifting, got a ray of hope in 2000 Olympics with Malleswary and rotten in 2008 with Monica Devi Controversy.

I propose the charge of all sports activities should be given to very young person as young as I am.{No kidding!! I can produce tens of medals in upcoming Olympics :) }. My argument, if over-thinking babus and dirty politicians can't produce a result, why shouldn't a young leader be given a chance. At most he will fail too. We aren't having any better results otherwise too. But I'm more than sure if in case this distent looking possibility at present anyhow becomes true, we'll have a Golden garland of medals around our neck..


Cheers....
N hope I become the head of sports in India much before joining Gray Brigade...... :)

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Games are meant for Youth

It was really nice experience winning bronze medal in Gymnastics. This achievement remains a high point of inspiration for me even today. Now let me take your attention to another incident of similar type but with contrasting fate. I Participated in many activities during Junior High school studies. I completed matriculation from another school and went to yet another school for Senior Secondary Education. This was the time when I got some fondness towards speeches and debates. I was a bit shy initially to take up the challenge to speak in front of many listeners, but the bronze medal glory helped me out to overcome this hiccup. I got the confidence that anything can be initiated at any point of time irrespective of whether you’ve done/experienced it earlier or not. During that one year I participated in N number of debate/speech competitions at school level. I had one a couple of titles there too.
A big occasion came up for me, when I participated in a district level speech competition from my school. There were participants from almost all schools in the district. A fantastic stage to showcase my abilities was there. It turned out to be a tough competition, but I got the edge over others on the basis of my unique style of delivering speech. I got selected to compete on the topic with the bests from all over the country, to be held at Allahabad.
This was yet another big moment for me. I was really eager to step out of my town and see the world for the first time. As it happens with us whenever we see a window we try to visualize beyond that and start dreaming. I am perplexed whether to call this tendency of human being a weakness or strength. Since visualizing attitude of human being must have been a key factor in the development of human civilization up to this date, so it’s strength. But in many cases it seems to be a weak point as in this case.
In contrast to my day dreams there was something else in store for me. I was an Intermediate final year student at that time. The dates of practical exams being conducted by U P Board were around the corner, but no date was fixed, not even a tentative date. I went up to my principal and informed him with my selection for the national meet and requested him to permit me to participate in the same event scheduled to be held at Allahabad few days later.
My hard luck! Mr. Principal refused to provide any favor in case of practical exams if, by chance, conducted during my absence. The risk was big for me. Not appearing in practical meant loss of one academic year.
Mr. Principal did not have courage to support a young student for making his dream come true. We know our system. N number of loopholes are there to crack a possibility for making something happen. But alas! That is never done for noble cause, to make a bold step for a better future but to discourage and demolish constitutional pillars.
Mr. Principal was not bold enough to take a decision to encourage a young guy for a noble cause as Mr. N D Joshi did in the earlier case. Mr. Principal, being an old man, was not as enthusiastic as young leader N D Joshi. Mr. N D Joshi, being one of the youngest in his staff was leading as a headmaster in the school. An agitated blood was instrumental to lead a young team to success. On the other hand tired & old blood in veins of Mr. Principal was not allowing him to take risk even for a legitimate reason.
At last I can say Games are meant for young blood and should be led by youths. Why am I raising these points here today? An obvious question gets raised here. Following Beijing Olympics 2008 I came up with this kind of conclusions. Why do I think so? I’ll explain few points in following post……