Sporting India or Spurning India

rishi playing football

The other day when India won the Nehru Cup and the same was telecast in the news, a friend of mine (sitting besides me in the Office cafeteria and watching the news) commented, “ There is no big deal in this win. Shame on Indian team for being so elated by defeating such a small country like Syria.” I just looked askance at him for such a contumely towards the very spirit of sports. Had he known that Syria is ranked 55 slots higher than India and that India defended its title of 2007 Nehru Cup and that India also won a tournament in Vietnam in 2002, he might not have commented with such disdain.

Notwithstanding that, how many Indians even know what is Nehru Cup!! On a similar context, how many times earlier have you ever seen a news channel telecast any news update on performance of Indian pugilists in the World Boxing Championships. Well, for the ongoing Boxing Championship, it is. The reason being quite palpable – Indian boxers winning medals in the Olympics.

We all know about cricket great Steve Waugh and his active participation in cricket academies in Indian cities. He has proven himself not to be just a remarkable, talented and a sagacious sportsman but a magnanimous human being too. Unambiguously, hats off to him. There are some more similar names in cricket who deserve applaud for aforesaid reasons, and we all know them. Mathew Hayden and Makhaya Ntini are few such names. Now, how many of us know about Santi Freixa. Well, he is an internationally renowned hockey player from Spain. Spain has an established rapport in the world of hockey. Santi has opened a Hockey Academy in Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh. He coaches the children of the neighbouring livelihood to become next Dhanraj Pillai or Dhyan Chand. These children belong to lower middle-class families. The facilities provided by Santi to these children might not be world-class, the infrastructure might not be lavish, but the entire idea for setting up such an academy is quite sane and honorable. This academy is not a “shop” where you have to pay hefty amounts to “learn” hockey just like several cricket academies across India, rather its an institution – an institution where you do not just learn the fundamentals and intricacies of hockey but also study at the primary and secondary educational levels. The academy houses a study centre where the children are taught at the elementary and secondary level. All this, at no stupendous fee or rather no fee at all. Now why is Mr. Freixa doing such an honorable charity to these Indian children is beyond the scope of this article!!

I opine that its time for all of us – who believe that India possesses the caliber of producing a Sachin Tendulkar in Hockey, a Pullela Gopichand in Football, a Dhanraj Pillai in Table Tennis and a Bhaichung Bhutia in Tennis – to get actively or even passively involved in promotion and lobby of sports in India other than cricket. I do not mean to discourage playing cricket. However, cricket is already an established and prosperous filed in India and by God’s grace, continue to be. The concentration needs to be focused on other sports as well. We have Somdev Devvaraman and Sania Mirza entering into playing at the Grand Slam level, we have Jeev Milkha Singh and Saina Nehwal with title winning championships. However, India deserves much more in sports and hence should get much more. A Nehru Cup title in Football or a Super Series Tournament win in Badminton are extremely good starts to name a few. If robustly supported, India could see its players winning World Badminton Championships, Grand Slam titles, World Boxing Championships, World Table Tennis championships, and many more. It is not a farce or an unrealistic dream. Its a vision which I think we all believe in. A good start in this regard would be posting relevant blogs on the Internet with more facts and figures and advocating to Media (both print and electronic) to telecast more documentaries of the likes of Santi Freixa show.