It's sports time these days. And a feast for me. Usain Bolt's thundering performances have been inspiring the world. His second gold from the World Athletic Championships, Moscow, 2013, in 200 m men's final with the clock hitting 19.66 sec has reiterated that it's 'Bolt'. Well done! I'm eager to know the outcome of today's 4x100 m men's relay finals, the one that interests me the most out of all the track and field events. I've recently watched an you tube video showcasing the Jamaicans' relay run to win an Olympic final with a world record at London-2012. My goodness! They ran as if they were made to run. Simply superb focus and stamina. Let's see if history repeats today as well. All the very best to the team 'Bolt'.
On the other side it's the Indian sports awards that have made me to go for an eventual awe, in a saddened way. Sports men/women do every practice to win a medal, they shed every drop of sweat to make history, they give their best on an international stage, and they give away their best likes as well to stay focused. Every hype go around after the win. Country celebrates. News channels cash every penny. Social networking sites go crazy. Days pass on. Here comes the award selection time for the exceptional contributions in sports for the year. And the fantasy game starts. Some of the best performers get the awards without any hassle, provided the sports they play are from the list of best watching ones across the nation. The remaining best performers , at times, have to wait either for another round of awards time or in few cases for years to get their name written against the award. And I'm not one of those who takes it as 'this is India and it happens'. Hence I'm expressing my views here.
Having been the first Indian shooter to be ranked on the top spot in the ISSF world rankings and for successfully defending the world cup title, Ranjan Sodhi is undoubtedly the best contender for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. But it's been almost three years that the Indian woman discus thrower Krishna Poonia won the Commonwealth games gold medal in the track and field events, the first Indian woman to achieve so and the only person to win so for India after the great Milkha Singh won it back in 1958 games. She has also stood seventh in the Olympics'2012 final. She has not yet been recognized for her efforts and wins. India has been awaiting the first Olympic individual medal in the track and field events and Girisha Hosanagara has won a silver medal at the Paralympic games 2012. Whoever agrees or disagrees, Paralympic games as well are the biggest platform for the physically challenged athletes. It's important to recognize and encourage their will and wishes, rather most important. Every other sports person who has won a medal at the Olympics has been recognized enough so far other than Girisha, who won a silver medal in the men's high jump event.
Though there is a committee with prominent members in it to decide the award winners, it is not convincing enough when someone says that the it was one person who reached the meeting late turned everything around towards the end. If one person's views could be shown as a reason, one person should have been the committee and no one else was required. What for others were there? Was not that the job of all others to convince the whole committee with the reasons behind their choices? Making the award decision so political not just gives disgrace to the otherwise great achievements but also destroys the focus of our sports persons. Of course, they have to be strong. They have to face all. But that does not mean that their national government, that their very own country, does not recognize them. Yes, they have to be strong to face the world wide competition. But not that they have to undergo all this trauma and politics.
It's not just for medals in Rio Olympics'2016 that India shall aim.
... To be continued!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment