Beijing Olympics 2008

Indian sport headed in the wrong direction ?

Before starting, I would like to point out that not many people are going to like this article. I do not want to take anything away from India’s first individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra but would like to point out that India really need to get their act together and plan for the next edition of the Olympic games. Can we be content with just 1 or 2 medals in the world’s biggest sporting event ?

Cricket is everything - why ?

Cricket has always been considered the God of games in this cricket fanatic country even though Hockey is the national sport. Every sport takes a back seat when cricket is on. This is probably not because people are not open to other sports, it is because the media and promoters do not give other sports a second chance.

Is it not the moral obligation of the big companies like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Reliance, Airtel to give other sports a chance ? These companies spend crocred and crores of Rupees on advertising with the big guns of cricket most of whom don’t last as long except for the seniors and our captain. Further, these companies do not also shell out much on the domestic level games. IPL is an exception, but again, it has a commercial angle to it and gives the sponsors good value for their money.

Remember hockey or the other sports ?

How many of our readers last remmeber a hockey match being advertised or even know that India is in the finals of the AFC Cup ? The reason is simple, no major sponsors and no channel wants to go out of the cricket loop. We prefer to air the Olympics where India have a handful of players while the national sport is again being given a second seat. We do however see the sporting facilities relating to cricket improving with large investments coming in from the larger copanies like Zee, Kingfisher, Reliance etc. Wheat is not realised is that these investors/promoters do not care about the sport or the sportsperson, they are merely businesses - if not Sachin, then Dhoni, after Dhoni there will be someone else.

Even though cricket is considered the major sport of the country, India has failed to keep up to the hype by winning just one world cup way back in 1984 (thanks to Kapil and his men) the T20 world cup last year and a few other here and there.

On the other hand, the feats India has achieved in hockey, shooting, tennis are less known and the facilities available are not even worth mentioning. The fact that most of the players visiting the Olympics have spent their own money for travel is shameful. Even more shameful is the fact that these players have been using private funded facilities and coaches for training.

It is still in the memory of the hockey players that when they won the Asia Cup last year and returned home, not many people or media cared to welcome them, let alone awards or sponsorships or even Government funding for further training and facilities. During the same period, the Indian T20 team had won the world cup and returned home to a thunderous welcome with a bus parade around the city and crores of money showered on them by the politicians and sponsorers. This period was not only a great let down for the fans of hockey, but a major let down for the sport itself.

Why shower him with money now ?

Even today, what we see is Abhinav Bindra being showered with money after he has won the event at the Olympics and no doubt, he will be further showered with sponsorships. It is the right time to highlight that Abhinav’s father had prepared a shooting range at his own expense for Abhinav to practice as the facilities available elsewhere were pathetic.

The others returning back without a medal will be long forgotten in the coming few weeks. Neither will anyone be given better facilities to practice, neither will a sponsor invest in them for future. The government will also be least bothered as always.

What we collectively need to realise is that there is more to sports than cricket and the media needs to highlight this. Until the media brings forth developments in other sports and the lack of infrastructure and facilities available, neither any multinational or our Government is going to care. The Government takes action only when there is a issue raised in front of them and the multinationals require TRPs or brand value before they sponsor a team or sport.

Here are a few questions and suggestions with which I leave you -

• Why are the facilities and infrastructure available in such a bad condition ?
• Why can we not have decent stadiums ? Good stadiums results in world class tournaments eventually resulting in income.
• If the Government or the sports authorities can’t handle it, privatise the sports bodies.
• Why shower the players with money after they win ? Why can’t this money be invested in the players beforehand to bring in more medals ?
• Can’t the sports authorities provide special benefits for multinationals who take upon themselves to promote a sport other than cricket - like exclusive sponsorship for a set number of years ? This could be a silly suggestion, but it could work.
• Shouldn’t the international level sports authorities be responsible for development of sports in the developing countries ? Of course, our national level authorities need to wake up and actively push them.

Tags: Abhinav Bindra, Asia Cup, beijing olympics 2008, Cricket, Hockey, hockey asia cup, shooting, t20 world cup, Tennis