Sports policy

Sir, - The sorry state of affairs that haunts Indian sports, more particularly during Olympic games, is hard to digest. Despite having over one billion population to its credit, India has always been a failure in the Olympic games. It is a bitter pill to swallow that India, recognised as the world's best country for its IT-savvy, should prove an utter failure in Olympics. This should pinch the Indian Government more than any one individual.

Going by what Karnam Malleswari told a media interviewer soon after her winning Bronze, it appears that she was subjected to a great deal of mental trauma before and during her participation in the event. She said she had successfully tried the weight of 247.5 kg in India, which meant she was certain of winning gold medal in Olympics. Because of the puzzled state of her mind she was to satisfy herself with only 240 kg that fetched her the Bronze. This is a clear case of lack of social and moral encouragement to our spirited sportspersons.

Gymnastics is one of the disciplines India could try its luck in, for the country has in plenty people who are at their best in street acrobatics, but what is lacking is proper grooming of these people to reach Olympic standards. It is time Indians did not consider sports as their pastime.

It is important that any sports participant in big events like Olympics should have a poised mind besides being physically fit at least during the days of his or her stay in the sports venue. But it has always been the other way round for Indian participants who either lost their cool or are subjected to a sudden illness of cold, diarrhoea or minor body injuries. Besides all these shortcomings what is glaringly missing is the genuine government efforts. The Government of India should concentrate more on developing the necessary infrastructure for Indian sportspersons to acquire skills to compete in international events. Without a comprehensive sports policy the government has put the otherwise bright future of sports and sportspersons in India in a quandary.

K. Usha Manohar,

Chitradurga (Karnataka)

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Opinion
Previous : Health & hospitals
Next     : Indo-Russian ties will be pragmatic