The prospects for Indian sport are gobsmackingly good. When our athletes took the Commonwealth Games by storm, critics said that it was rather easily done. And then came the Asian Games where expectations were truly exceeded. Yes, Indian sportsmen have truly arrived on the region’s stage and the world is just another stage away. It’s not being too optimistic to say more Indian athletes may stand on the Olympic podium in London.
The real Eureka moment will, however, arrive when an athletics medal is earned even if it may be some years away. So far, only Kolkata-born Anglo-Indian named Norman Pritchard has won athletics medals (1200m, 200m hurdles silver) for India. P.T. Usha came within a whisker of a bronze in Los Angeles more than a quarter of a century ago. Today’s athletes are a different breed altogether. They resemble their predecessors only in crying out for financial support.
The sporting scene has changed comprehensively. World-class infrastructure is available in the country now. There is no dearth of coaches, many of them carrying their knowhow from foreign lands. Resources are more readily available for current crop of top sportsmen. Equip-ment imports are also being allowed freely.
The days of hockey glory passed us by ages ago; so much so, there is only a tendril of nostalgia left in the sport-loving people of India. The focus has shifted to the individual sportsperson. Led by the likes of Saina Nehwal, India’s athletes are set to achieve in diverse disciplines, from archery and badminton to gymnastics, Wushu and whatnot.
The age of the innocent Indian who has come merely to participate and learn is gone. So too the age of obsession with cricket may be behind us.
Recent performances of Indian athletes have brought them their share of the media spotlight they were crying themselves hoarse about for decades. When Saina came from behind to beat her opponent in the badminton singles and win gold to help India edge out England from second place in the Commonwealth Games, she had shown a brand of resilience that Indian sportspeople were not known for.
Things have changed. Women as such have proved to be India’s best in most recent times, surprising all with their golden deeds, particularly on the track and field, traditionally the country’s weakest events. The victories of the women’s relay teams in the two big Games held close to each other have come like a bolt from the blue. They are not to be dismissed as freak performances.
Nor can the old argument that it’s easier to compete in the women’s section hold good since a lot of professionalism has come into sport on the distaff side too. Historically, Indian’s women athletes have been the weaker link, exposed much less to the rough and tumble of international sport, but that is changing too.
Preeja Sridharan, from the backwaters of Kerala, is a perfect example of woman power beginning to fetch more medals. While even the star shooters were said to have been put off by the challenging winds of China, the women athletes blazed the track and field in Guangzhou.
That they are, as a group, far more competitive reflects the changing Indian sporting psyche.
Where the next Olympic medal will come to which individual athlete is a matter of conjecture. But, seeing the overall rise in standards, it’s possible to predict that by 2016 India should be in a position to go beyond the solitary gold medal count of history. Of course, Indian athletes will have another battle on their hands, which is to carry the burden of a billion and more expectations. Having earned the respect of the nation far more than greedy administrators, our sportspeople have a lot to look forward to.