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Opinion
Brilliant Bindra
by J. Ajithkumar
So finally it
has happened. It took more than a century for one of the oldest
civilizations and most populous nations in the world to achieve its
first individual gold medal at the Olympic Games. Abhinav Bindra has
done India proud like no one else before. And in victory he looked cool,
composed and confident, representing more of ancient Bharat than modern
India. Achievements of wrestler and boxer Kumars are nothing less, but
an Olympic Gold Medal for an individual item is what has eluded India
for so long. India has done far better in group games than in individual
sports so far.
India had
taken Olympic Gold Medals in Hockey many times and we could do
satisfactorily well in a couple of other games too. From its virtual
monopoly in Hockey, Indians have now come down to a stage of failing to
even qualify for participation. And India has always been an utter
failure in athletics. One Milkha Singh and one P.T. Usha are no great
achievements for a colossal human resource of 1.2 billion human beings.
Our brilliant Bindra has broken that jinx and has ushered in a new era
for his fellow countrymen by his own efforts. If we can learn from
Bindra’s story and recognize the several lapses we have in our system,
India can target at least a dozen medals in the next Olympics. In
individual items India has produced only a handful of world-class
sportsmen. Personally I can think of only a few individuals like Prakash
Padukone, Geeth Sethi and Viswananthan Anand who can claim to have gone
up to the very top of the world. Then we had so many others who were
promising and very hopeful at times. Milkha Singh, Usha, Yohannan etc.,
can only be counted in that category. Their greatness definitely lies in
their tremendous fight against all odds in India to reach where they
were with a setup like that of ours. But in the case of Abhinav Bindra
we can set aside all reservations because he shall remain forever as the
first individual Olympic Gold Medalist for India.
Non-Playing Captains
The simple fact that the 60 member Indian contingent to Beijing Olympics
had only a half of them actually participating in sports and games
speaks chapters about Indian Sports. And the striking truth that Indian
nation was represented by a petty politician (and not the President or
Prime Minister) speaks volumes about the present pathetic condition of
our great nation. In all countries, especially democratic ones, there is
politics in sports and games. In a way it is unavoidable because sports
and games involve human beings and all are political creatures. But
non-playing hardcore politicians taking control of the leadership of
almost all sports bodies is something that is seen only in India. Their
leadership is good but inevitably they bring in dirty political
maneuvers and manipulations into the games. During their tenures, it is
very common these days to see very promising players turning into very
nasty politicians. Politics seeps into everything and destroys the
players and ultimately the game. Indian Hockey is the best example for
this degeneration syndrome.
The main attraction for hardcore politicians is the money lying at the
disposal of sports bodies. It is often the reluctance and inefficiency
of good sports managers to handle such huge amounts of money that paves
the way for non-playing entities to come in. And once these non-playing
entities have come into the body of any sports organization, it is
almost impossible to get them out. There are good things they bring
about in the conduct of games but very few in the game itself. It is
high time we started insulating core bodies in each games & sports from
the negative influences of these non-playing captains. Politicians must
be welcome in sports organizing bodies but not in the basic sports
bodies meant for promotion of the sport. Indian Hockey Federation, BCCI,
Indian Olympic Committee etc,, are all suffering from the bad influence
of Indian politicians. All the unprofessionalism and greediness of
Indian politicians have started showing in the dirty demeanor of many
coaches and players. This was very much evident in Beijing also.
Greedy Claims
Some of Indian coaches have jumped the gun and started claiming all
glory for themselves. All the self-generated media publicity by the
coach of Abhinav Bindra was preposterous and premature. He should have
claimed glory for himself and arranged all celebrations only after Mr.
Bindra had publically acknowledged the efforts of his coach. Otherwise
he is only a paid coach who has done his job. Coaches are paid
professionals who are retained for training all those who are assigned
to them. Much before Mr. Bindra even mentioned about his coach, the
sunny trainer has attended several celebrations and got a cash reward
declared by Kerala Government (for reasons best known to them). Here the
stark comparison with Mr. Nambiar who took yeoman efforts in coaching
and perfecting a village girl like Ms. P.T. Usha to the topmost level is
highly revealing. All those who are following the media these days knows
fully well that it is Abhinav’s father who needs to be complimented and
not his coach who is retained by Government of India for training. At
this rate even domestic servants at Bindra’s residence can lay their
claims for the Olympic Gold Medal just because they have cooked for
Abhinav and washed him!!
And as usual a ‘special’ breed of Indians who made a lot of claims
during their journey to Beijing are now sulking. There was our lady long
jumper (who has never ever crossed the 7-metre mark in her life) making
all tall claims. She even crossed all limits of professional decency
when she ridiculed the brilliant efforts of her predecessor Ms. P.T.
Usha in the past. After all the hullaballoo and media propaganda by her
cronies, she painted a very pitiable picture by failing to even qualify.
If she has fouled deliberately (which is very much possible because she
knew she cannot make it anyway), the entire money spent on training her
must be recovered from her. She should have remembered that these days
the Olympic God Medals for long jump goes to those who can cross the
7-metre mark and there are atleast half a dozen contestants who can do
it. Also, she should remember that media propaganda by her ‘own’
supporters and burning candlesticks by a few Kerala Congress politicians
will not get her anywhere in athletics. One can leap high and long only
if one is on firm grounds and not floating on air.
Abhinav’s victory could not have come at a better time. Indian sports’
biggest bane is the game of Cricket and Indian Cricket is in utter
shambles now. This is the right time to discontinue undue encouragements
for cancerous Cricket and start promotion of real sports and games that
are useful for human body, mind and spirit. Managers of Indian Sports
must pick up from the glory of Abhinav’s medal and start preparing for
the next major international event. The best in each field who have
already proved their mettle must take charge of managing the game. If we
again leave it to the dirty politicians and cheeky coaches to prepare
our candidates we will only end up with many more lotus-eating long
jumpers. If we want more of highly focused modern day Arjuns like
Abhinav Bindra, now is the time to act.
August 24, 2008
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