As curtains fell on the summer Olympics in Rio yesterday and the Indian contingent has begun packing up, the mood is understandably downbeat. A Bronze and one Silver medal are all what came India’s way, set against a medal sweep of nearly a hundred by the US and over 80 by China and a little less by Russia.
Even the tiny Pacific island of Fiji managed to win one Gold. There could be cynics who say India expected only a bronze but is lucky to have got a silver too, but the chastening effect for a nation itching to be a superpower and be on par with China is inescapable. Big talk does not take us anywhere, least of all in Olympics; nor does a 56-inch chest all by itself.
For sure, an Olympics win is not manufactured like fast food. Long years of complacence did India in, in very many sectors of human endeavour, and the repeated Olympics (and other major international sporting events) disasters are only a symptom of a deeper malady within. It helps little crying over spilt milk.
Nor does it help cribbing and complaining. A gruesome example is that of a woman socialite writer from Bombay who poured out her contempt on our sportspersons participating in the Rio events. Her mocking of the youngsters by saying that selfies are the only things they will fetch back home was definitely condemnable, to say the least.
That was the time to give reassurance to the players; not for nitpicking. The game over, it’s time now for stocktaking. It is all too obvious that India went to Olympics yet again with less or no preparations at all. The sad stories abound about how our athletes were treated before and during the Rio event.
It seems Dipa Karmakar’s physiotherapist was not allowed to travel along with her and was rushed after she made it to the finals. Coaches and trainers of most other participants were not made a part of the contingent. The best (worst?) part was that India’s Chief Medical Officer at the Olympics was a radiologist Pawandeep Tony Singh.
It seems he knows nothing about sports medicine or sports-related injuries. When any athlete went to him, his solution for all pains was Combiflam. Tony’s only qualification, it is learnt, is that he is the son of Tarlochan Singh who happens to be the Vice President of the Indian Olympic Association. Such stories, added with the fact that the team of non sporting officials (along with a minister) was numerous, showed how little we care for anything in this country.
This country’s problem begins with families. India is a nation of job-seekers. Generation after generation is showing a tendency to safe-pedal through life; risk-taking is not in Indians’ blood. This is partly because life in this country ambles along through placid waters and there are less of challenges in life. Upheavals are rare, thanks to the strengths of democracy that has one too many safety valves to let out people’s sense of anger.
“Catch them young” is the reigning theme in sports the world over. It underscores the role of family in conditioning the minds of new generations. In today’s India, there is little of inspiration from homes or from the society for children to take to sports; and the media pays single-minded concentration to cricket and only cricket.
How this affects the youth is evident also from what is heard about bronze winner Sakshi Malik. It was curiously her fancy for flying that took her to sports after seeing contingents for Olympics and Asian Games being airborne; and not an interest in sports, per se.
Silver medallist PV Sindhu had sports in her family blood, her father being an Arjuna award winner and how he encouraged her is now known to all. And, still, she was the invention of a private sports academy run by a former badminton player on land donated by the government. Small helps make a big difference.
It goes to show how things work. India’s industry and the corporate world flush with funds can go an extra mile, put more of their mite into academies, adopt sportspersons, nurture them and effect a change for the better. There already are some efforts like giving jobs to sportspersons by banks and industrial houses.
Or even putting them up in the Rajya Sabha. Private sector entities can do better to promote sports. A spirit of competition could be made to come into play between business houses to prove one up; and that might help.
There will be no bureaucratic red tape that holds back initiatives, as is best reflected in a report Sunday saying a girl in Patiala had been denied accommodation at a sports hostel on the excuse that she did not fare well in exams the previous year. Her family had no money to pay for her travel. It led her to commit suicide.
She left a note addressed to the Prime Minister saying the college did not keep its word on providing her free accommodation, and that she hoped such a fate would not befall other kids in future.
At this hour of Olympic shame, as the saying goes, it’s easy to criticise, but difficult to perform. Along with the Bombay socialite and those others who try to find fault with the Indian contingent in Rio, only one thing can be said.
Let the nation look forward to Tokyo and start right now to create the right conditions for our sports personalities to help them do better. Let industries and even cribbing socialites adopt one sportsperson each, provide him/her with what it takes to shine at international events.
It takes time; like time for a plant to grow into a tree and bear fruits. What is essential, in both cases, is nurturing; which is where there is a perceptible deficit in India.
