Story of Sathya

The Country that cries Gold!

The Solitary Writer
Posted by The Solitary Writer August 11, 2012 8 Comments 12 Min Read 1.1k Views

 !My take on the Olympic games.


The title itself must have suggested you that we are going to talk about the performances of the Indian athletes at the London games. Although the good thing is that we are winning at least one medal since 1996 Atlanta games. But my question is simple. Why should we crave and pray for Gold everytime our country participates in the Olympics?. Indians form 18% of the world population. I agree that it wouldn’t be easy to say as to perform. 

Story of Sathya
Firstly, let’s talk about the mighty Chinese. I won’t compare the Chinese with the Indians. Offcourse, they have tried to dominate the entire sporting arena and for them it’s a matter of pride. Every time they falter at the highest level, they plan and strategize for the next games. So, every time they enter the games, they have some count in their mind and they try their level best to achieve the numbers.Even in 2012, they have dominated the medals tally. They deal in gold’s and silvers. It’s just because their government has encouraged and does its best to meet all their athletes’ needs.They have provided them with the best of resources in form of coaches, facilities and arrangements to keep their players happy. That is China for us which has been top at every level. It’s high time we have to learn and get inspired from them.
Even they boast a population of 1.3 billion but they have excelled in every field. As I have said before, I am not going to compare the might’s of Chinese with the Indians. We would also review the performance of our athletes in this Olympic Games later in this post. First of all we need to discuss about the pros, cons and all that factors which obstruct us from winning an Olympic Gold. What does an Olympic Gold medal means? It could be considered as the world domination in that particular sport. This is because, the one who reach the Olympics to represent their country are the one who are selected on the basis of merit through games held in their Country. We have National games in India and many local games which screens the talent present in India. But our athletes have let everyone down. We expected at least 10 medals from India but this time we have messed it up. All our players paved way for their opponents for the next round and made an early exit. There are only few who gave their best. Out of few, Vijendra, Devendro, Saina, Mary Kom, Kashyap, Gagan Narang, Vijay Kumar could be named as the ones who gave as their best. Few of them have also won medals. 
Story of Sathya
Prior to Olympics, Indian hockey team was the talk of the town. Because of their preparation, one could have expected at least a bronze medal from them. So now that the Olympic is about to end, our Indian Hockey team is competing for the 11-12th position. They could not even win a single match which is a big shame to our country where Hockey is supposed to be our National Game. Dhyanchand would have been upset if he had seen this pathetic state of Indian Hockey. 

Story of Sathya

During his time, we never failed to perform and by default the Olympic Gold went to India. In last recent years, the European nations have dominated hockey and the Asian countries have been finding it difficult to perform at the International circuit. Same is the case of Pakistan who succumbed to a 7-0 defeat to Australia. Leave Hockey aside and let’s talk about Shooting and Archery. We might feel proud to have the World number 1 Deepika Kumari who was a big medal hope for our country. A lot was expected from her but she failed to deliver. Ranjan Sodhi is our other number 1 who failed in double trap. Are our world number 1 only limited to India instead of world? I won’t blame the players as they have actually made us proud. It depends on their performance and may be luck factor is also essential. The Archery team failed to perform and so did the Shooting team minus Gagan,Joydeep and Vijay kumar.The Shooting team followed the Archery team and so did Tennis and  table- tennis. Talking about the performers, I would like to speak about Saina who showed great maturity in badminton and won us a bronze. Kashyap was a surprise package in Badminton but the world number 1 crushed him although Kashyap gave him a tough time. Tennis was exciting not that Sania Mirza was playing but for their brave performances. I particularly loved the way our Men’s double ( Paes – Vishnu) and our mixed doubles played. But sadly, they were out too. So, now I would like to talk about Boxing. This was the first time in the history of Olympics that we had a 7 member team along with 1 woman boxer in form of Mary Kom. Boxing never ceased to impress us this time as well but we were not lucky enough to move ahead. Our boxers were victim of bad decisions and biased judging because of which our star performer Vijendra failed to make to the Semi’s.

Story of Sathya
 Pocket Dynamo Laishram Devendro Singh, known for his aggression and fast punches gave a tough fight to Irish Barnes Paddy before getting thrashed out from the Qf. But there was someone who made us proud. She was none other than Mary Kom, a 29 year mother of 2, also 5 times world champion. She couldn’t make into the Finals of the Womens 51 kg bout as she lost a very difficult match against Nicola Adams in the Sf.She was labelled as Mother Mary, Medal Mary, Queen Mary etc after she made us proud. She was a medal prospect too. History was repeated again when Krishna Poonia and Vikas Gowda had qualified for the Women and Men’s Discus throw finals. They tried their best but sadly their attempts to win medals remained futile. So no one could do something for the medal drought in Athletics for India and it continued once again. 
It’s high time that this problem needs to be addressed .Our Government says that they have spent 250 Crores for the Olympic preparations but I am quite sure that half of the money would have gone into the pockets of corrupt officials and the middlemen. As a nation we haven’t done anything to address the corruption issue and this would slowly eat up everything. Our corrupt politicians would gradually turn into leeches and our nation’s wealth would be under threat. This would impact the common men. 
Why is that India performs its best at the Asian and Commonwealth games?
The Asian games and the Commonwealth games are held once in every 4 years. Commonwealth games include countries that were once a apart of the British Empire. Because of this, we might not see the mighty Chinese, Koreans and the Japanese in the CW Games. They are considered to be the powerhouse of modern day games. India usually features in top 3 in the Common Wealth games medal table and top 10 in Asian Games. The Chinese never send their best team for the Asian games as their best ones would be busy preparing for the Olympics. We need to do our best in every field. Employ the best resources and encourage our players. 
What needs to be done?
Story of Sathya
I feel that parents should encourage their children to take part in sports. In this cricket obsessed nation, people have been inclined towards this sport to such an extent that we have been worshiping Sportsmen as Gods. We should know that Cricket isn’t popular in most of the countries. We should change our mindset and start welcoming and accepting the other sports. Sports should be included in curriculum. They should be mandatory and grades should be assigned on the basis of their performance. Like this, we could find the best from every city, village and districts. We need to groom them appropriately and provide them with all the best facilities. Their focus should be on sports. Parents should play a very important role and motivate their kids to take part in sports effectively. Rewards and Awards should be given  by schools and Universities for those who perform their best in sports. They should also be allowed to compete at international events and only those who perform their best should be selected on the basis of their merit. India should open universities focusing on Sports and their main objective should be making our country proud at the highest ground. We don’t see sportsperson from metro cities and most of them are from North East and Rural villages in Haryana. Our country youth should act accordingly and it’s now time to get serious. I know that writing an article and sitting at home and watching our players perform isn’t the best thing to do. You need to contribute. Sitting at home or rather typing comments in a Facebook page wouldn’t do much. Its time we need to groom our very own Phelps,Federer and  Bolts in our country .Act. Time to Ponder. I would love to know your feedback.

Story of Sathya

 Courtesy – Google Images
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The Solitary Writer
The Solitary Writer
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Step right up, it's Ste's show! Join me on my writing journey where I dish out witty tales, thought-provoking poems, and quirky musings on life. I'm a social justice warrior who sneaks in some humor wherever I can. Book, movie, and cultural critiques included. Buckle up, it's gonna be a wild ride!