The lessons India never learnt from Jamaica, Kenya or even Ethiopia…
In the year 1986, a couple used to run a grocery
shop in an obscure rural place near Trelawny in Jamaica and had to slog really hard to make ends meet for the family every day. After 23 years, their son performs his ‘Bolt-moves’ in every possible headlines, internationally! Yes, we are talking about Usain Bolt, the latest sensation of the day, who is indeed rocking the world athletics arena, breaking one record after another, and sometimes, breaking few records of his own! Silently, a compelling question arises – what did Jamaica, a country which is internationally third in murders per capita, do to deserve a legend like Bolt? The apparent yet most important answer is – ‘nothing’ but providing ‘support’ for such lightening talents.
Actually, when we witness sparkling achievements, such as Bolt’s, the first reaction that strikes most of our minds is ‘HOW’, and not ‘WOW’. The answer to this ‘how’ is official ‘support’ in Jamaica. Why Jamaica alone, many other under-developed East African economies have pulled up their socks to provide proper ‘support’ to their respective sportsmen, and they are proving their worth at the international level. Countries like Kenya, or even Ethiopia, are dominating world athletics field. Such is their success ratio that International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) members (mostly from developed economies) are forced to cancel many annual championships out of fear of loss in medal tally!
At this juncture, the quite repetitive yet most obvious ‘sigh’ comes with the comparison between Indian standard of achievements at the international level and achievements of many under-developed economies. Except few odd cases of the Abhinav Bindras or the Vijender Singhs (even where the sole credit goes to the respective sportsman’s private endeavour or the respective family support), India’s show at the international sports arena has been absolutely bizarre. Why? Don’t we, as a nation, provide support to the sports? Of course we provide support. Our honourable Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has allocated Rs.3,073 crore for sports, a straight hike of Rs.1,480 crore than the proposed budget. Make no mistake, most of this money will be vanished without any trace citing city’s developments for the Commonwealth Games and actual sports will always be deprived. So the obvious questions are – why is our country always lagging at the international level? Why are we suffering from such lack of infrastructure? Why, as a nation which has 80 per cent of its population based in rural areas, fails to inspire talents who can brighten its glory internationally? Why our sportsmen, all across disciplines except the holy cow cricket, feel dejected and support-wise ‘malnourished’ everyday? To all these harsh questions, India has only one helpless answer – lack of official commitment! Till the day we pretend to define our attitude towards sports out of acute colonial hangover, till the day our chair-holders will keep on looting the official allocations for private benefits in broad daylight, till the day India will fail to show proper accountability at every layer of the sports society, and till the day our officials will hide their devilish desires under the veil of non-transparent babuism, India and its sports will lag behind and at every international mega sports event we will be left with anguish, disgust and helpless failures, making a complete mockery of India’s actual ‘sportsmanship’!
In the year 1986, a couple used to run a grocery
shop in an obscure rural place near Trelawny in Jamaica and had to slog really hard to make ends meet for the family every day. After 23 years, their son performs his ‘Bolt-moves’ in every possible headlines, internationally! Yes, we are talking about Usain Bolt, the latest sensation of the day, who is indeed rocking the world athletics arena, breaking one record after another, and sometimes, breaking few records of his own! Silently, a compelling question arises – what did Jamaica, a country which is internationally third in murders per capita, do to deserve a legend like Bolt? The apparent yet most important answer is – ‘nothing’ but providing ‘support’ for such lightening talents.Actually, when we witness sparkling achievements, such as Bolt’s, the first reaction that strikes most of our minds is ‘HOW’, and not ‘WOW’. The answer to this ‘how’ is official ‘support’ in Jamaica. Why Jamaica alone, many other under-developed East African economies have pulled up their socks to provide proper ‘support’ to their respective sportsmen, and they are proving their worth at the international level. Countries like Kenya, or even Ethiopia, are dominating world athletics field. Such is their success ratio that International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) members (mostly from developed economies) are forced to cancel many annual championships out of fear of loss in medal tally!
At this juncture, the quite repetitive yet most obvious ‘sigh’ comes with the comparison between Indian standard of achievements at the international level and achievements of many under-developed economies. Except few odd cases of the Abhinav Bindras or the Vijender Singhs (even where the sole credit goes to the respective sportsman’s private endeavour or the respective family support), India’s show at the international sports arena has been absolutely bizarre. Why? Don’t we, as a nation, provide support to the sports? Of course we provide support. Our honourable Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has allocated Rs.3,073 crore for sports, a straight hike of Rs.1,480 crore than the proposed budget. Make no mistake, most of this money will be vanished without any trace citing city’s developments for the Commonwealth Games and actual sports will always be deprived. So the obvious questions are – why is our country always lagging at the international level? Why are we suffering from such lack of infrastructure? Why, as a nation which has 80 per cent of its population based in rural areas, fails to inspire talents who can brighten its glory internationally? Why our sportsmen, all across disciplines except the holy cow cricket, feel dejected and support-wise ‘malnourished’ everyday? To all these harsh questions, India has only one helpless answer – lack of official commitment! Till the day we pretend to define our attitude towards sports out of acute colonial hangover, till the day our chair-holders will keep on looting the official allocations for private benefits in broad daylight, till the day India will fail to show proper accountability at every layer of the sports society, and till the day our officials will hide their devilish desires under the veil of non-transparent babuism, India and its sports will lag behind and at every international mega sports event we will be left with anguish, disgust and helpless failures, making a complete mockery of India’s actual ‘sportsmanship’!
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment