ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF A NATION OF 1.1 BILLION PEOPLE

The world is watching. Many Indians are watching. The shooting site of Beijing summer Olympics is filled to capacity. The presentation ceremony of the is about to begin. Two Chinese cadets are holding the national flag of India while it’s going up, flanked by two other national flags. The Indian flag is raised the most. In the middle of the podium, standing , is an Indian, receiving the gold medal. The Indian national anthem is being played in the background. 

Question : how often have you seen this happen ?. No points for guessing the answer. It’s NEVER before.

We are a nation of 1.1 billion people. Yet we cannot produce hundred athletes who can win us medals in the Olympics. We cannot produce twenty-three players to represent India in the FIFA world cup. We cannot produce players who can win us grand slam tournament. We cannot produce drivers who can stand on the same podium as Kimi Raikonnen or Valentino Rossi. We cannot produce a cricket team which is the best in the world, even though BCCI is one of the strongest sporting body in the world.

In the other countries ,which fare nicely in these games, the government takes an active part in preparing sportspersons. They consider it as their national pride. There are universities dedicated only to sports with world-class training facilities, which are funded by the governments. But in our country that is not going to happen in the very near future, even though India will be hosting something as big as the COMMONWEALTH games in 2010. And what is the reason behind it ? Simple. Our politician’s are too busy blocking highways, creating hindu-muslim riots, withdrawing support from the center, killing innocent people over some few acres of land, making big promises in times of election, so on and so forth………

And not to forget that we have a union sports minister, who very recently asked, “who is Prakash Padukone?” Please someone go and tell him that Praksh Padukone is the first All England Badminton Champion from India.

So how do we get more Abhinav Bindra’s to bring us more medals?. The only way it can happen is if the government takes an active part. Lets see what happens. I am surely hoping for a spirited 2010 commonwealth games. What about you ?