India, the nation which has
gifted several sports to the world, has little to show by way of medals or
achievements at mega sporting events like the Olympics, apart from the
individual brilliance of a few like Abhinav Bindra.
Every once in four years,
bureaucratic apathy, corrupt officials, inadequate training facilities and
political interference in sports gain predominance in discussions on sporting
failure.
The furor dies down as soon as our cricketing heroes play the
next cricket match. This is on expected lines as our people consider cricket as a religion. But what about the focus on other sports!
If talent could be unearthed at the grass root
level and simple strategies to win could be evolved and executed, success could definitely be achieved. For example, Pullela Gopichand, a master strategist, made Hyderabad the center for badminton training single handed. His badminton academy gave us players of the
caliber of Saina Nahiwal and P.V. Sindu.
Recently we have seen some teenage shooters like Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary proving their mettle in the sport.
Haryana has given us world class wrestlers like Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt and the Phogat sisters. Enthusiasm for the sport has assumed good proportions among both men and women. Boxing is another sport Haryana specializes in.
Kerala, with its famous Vallamkali and Kalaripayatu, could give us
rowing and martial arts specialists.
Maharashtra’s Mallakambh could offer gymnastic
talent, Jharkand rafting and so on.
Probably,the way forward is to improve sports
infrastructure according to the heritage of the region, scout for exceptional talent,
provide excellent training facilities and most important of all keep politics out of sports,
India can look forward to more Olympic medals.
#Olympics #Sports #medals #training #sportinginfrastructure #talent #Shooting #badminton #Wrestling #Boxing #Gymnastics #rowing
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