India at Olympics - always waiting for some miracle

Since I started watching sports on TV I always loved to watch the Olympics. For me, it is a symbol of ultimate human struggle and triumph symbolized in the form of sports. We get to witness epic struggles and ultimate triumphs, old records are broken, and new records are set. Sometimes it is enthralling to watch and sometimes it is heartbreaking to witness an athlete missing a medal by a whisker. Today, I have the luxury of rooting for two countries in the Olympics (India and the USA), but I never watched the Olympics to support any one country. For me, it was fun to watch spectacular performances of athletes all over the world. Maybe, I developed this attitude as India rarely used to win any medals in the Olympics. There were some like Milkha Singh and P T Usha who came very close to winning a medal, winning an Olympic medal is an exception and not a norm for a country like India.

India started participating in the Olympics in 1900, and since 1920 they have sent their players regularly to the Olympic games. India's first Individual Gold medal came in 2008, by shooter Abhinav Bindra. The last Olympic Games (2012) was the most successful event so far when India won six medals, two silver, and four bronze. India has won a total of 28 medals in the Olympics so far (out of which nine are gold, eight for field hockey, and just one individual gold), not a spectacular achievement for one of the most populous countries in the world. Just for the sake of comparison, we can compare India with the most decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps of USA has also won 28 medals in just four Olympics, and 23 of them are gold medals! What can be the reason that such a big country can not match the achievement of an individual? Definitely, a large population or lack of resources and money cannot be the only factors responsible for this, because even countries more populated than India (China) or poorer than India (like Kenya, Ethiopia, or North Korea) also win medals at the Olympics consistently. It is also not true that Indians are not passionate about sports. India is considered a superpower in cricket. It is one of the most lucrative markets for this game and the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most successful league for cricket all over the world. Is cricket responsible for killing all other sports? Many love to blame the dominance of cricket for pathetic infrastructure for all other sports, but then how come all other sports flourish in countries like the USA where basketball, baseball, and American football dominate so much? India even has a dedicated sports ministry to look after the country's sports activity, I don't think in the US there is even a position called the secretary of sports.

The major difference I found between both countries is that in the US kids start playing competitive sports at a very early age and there are professional private facilities available to them for almost any sport. Sports are a part of culture as well as school curriculum, and most kids are either directly or indirectly involved with some sports activity. For many sports earlier you start better it is. In India, many primary and middle schools don't even have their own playground, and playing is often considered as a waste of time. I remember that we used to get punished if my dad caught us playing cricket instead of studying, according to him studying was a much more essential activity than playing any game. I don't think my dad was an exception as many of my other friends also used to get a similar treatment.

During every Olympics, a question pops up how come a country of more than a billion people cannot produce even a few Olympic gold medalists? It is fiercely debated, cricket and government are blamed, but nothing more happens. If some athletes win any medals because of their own hard work and efforts they are hailed as heroes and saviors, they are showered with gifts and rewards from all over the country, and everything else is forgotten until the next Olympics. This has been going on for so many years, so regularly that this activity has become a regular drill for many Indians after every Olympics. Whether it is Sindhu or Sakshi or Abhinav or Sushil, they all won their medals, not because of infrastructure and sports culture, but despite that. They defied all odds against them and triumphed at the international level, but how long a country of more than a billion people can depend on the efforts few individuals to bring the ultimate recognition in sports? During every Olympics entire country expects some miracle to happen and at least one of their athlete wins some medals. If the USA can do it, China can do it, Brazil can do it, why not India? Something needs to change if India wants to compete with these countries in the Olympic medal count. Sports should become a regular activity, only then talent can be recognized at an early stage and be groomed to compete at the international level. Lots of perseverance, dedication, and hard work are required to achieve success at international level in any sport. Let's hope that the achievements of Sindhu and Sakshi act as a wake-up call and not as an opium dose which makes the entire country high and forget about ground realities. Let's celebrate their achievements with the intention of making it a regular event, not just a pleasant surprise.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

East Rock Cricket - A wonderful chapter of my life

Cricket is my favorite sport, it may not be surprising to know as I am an Indian and I guess the whole world knows India's obsession with this sport. As a child, I played this game a lot, in our chawl we used to have daily games where kids used to make two teams and play a cricket match. We also used to have matches between teams from different neighborhoods, price money used to to 50 paisa or one rupee, or the winner used to get the ball which we used to buy by collecting the money and playing the match. There used to be rivalries between teams and we also had some. Some teams were really strong and we used to dream to beat them and some used to dream to beat us. We both used to manage to fulfill our dreams once in a while, it used to be a celebration time and we used to talk about our heroic efforts for weeks. Many of these matches used to be very high-octane drama with lots of arguments over no ball or wide ball, but runouts used to be the real event killer, many times match was forced to be abandoned as some controversial run-out decisions used to create so much chaos and with no team willing to yield an inch, match used to end without any result. But even after all this there used to be another match on next Sunday with the same team. This phase of my life was really memorable, but after I finished school it all stopped, we all friends from our chawl went in different directions. I went to college and none of my chawl friends joined me there, so it all ended.

During my college and PhD, we used to play yearly tennis ball tournaments, and I used to be a part of my class or department team. I always enjoyed playing a team sport, whether it is Kabaddi or Cricket or Khokho, I love all team sports. One beautiful aspect of cricket is that almost anyone can play this game: short or tall, thin or chubby, fast or slow, doesn't matter, anyone can be a part of a team and have fun. Honestly, I am not that talented cricketer, I never got any official training to play this sport as my parents couldn't afford it. I used to be a wicketkeeper for our chawl team, my running between the wicket is good and I consider myself a very dedicated and hard-working fielder. I get very upset whenever I drop a catch or allow an extra run. I play hard for my team to win and like to be on the winning side, but that doesn't happen all the time and it is a part and parcel of any sportsperson's life.

After coming to the US I never got a chance to play cricket until I met with some cricket-enthusiastic Yale undergraduates. My friend Vishnu was very instrumental in all this. I really enjoyed their company and loved their enthusiasm for the game of cricket. Then East Rock cricket happened, every weekend Saturday and Sunday from 8 AM to 10 AM was booked for cricket. It all started with 5-6 enthusiastic Yale postdocs and then it grew from there. We played sometimes under ideal and many times under not-so-ideal ground conditions. Our grounds used to have so many tall trees, we call them Jonty Rhodes (a very dynamic and phenomenal South African fielder). Many superb shots which might have gone to six on any other ground used to land right in front of the bowler because of those trees, but still I loved every bit of it. And yes, there used to to taunts, arguments, fights, and drama, and many times I used to be a part of this commotion. Honestly, it used to remind me of my chawl days, the only difference was the language, it used to happen in Marathi at that time and here at East Rock, it was a mixture of Hindi and English. Most of these arguments used to be pointless with no right or wrong side, they all used to happen in the heat of the moment, and there used to be lots of anger and frustration, but there never used to be any malice or hate in it.

I don't know when, how, and why, but slowly something changed either in me or in the environment of East Rock cricket. Arguments started getting personal, and winning the game became more important than giving everyone a chance to play this amazing game. Of course, winning is an important aspect of any game, so there is nothing wrong in putting on a fierce fight to win any game, but that should not involve insulting any individual, especially for their intent, skills, and physique. I am a big supporter of free speech, so I cannot complain about what someone should say and shouldn't. Playing to win at any cost might be a good approach for competitions like the World Cup, but for me winning is just one part of recreational games, it is a bonus. I like to play some really good competitive sports in a fun and supportive environment.

I don't play cricket for fitness, for this I can do many more things which are more efficient and kind to my body compared to cricket. I really enjoyed this journey. I suggest any cricket enthusiast living in and around New Haven to join this amazing group and enjoy the great game of cricket. I am sure that they all will love the drama which also comes with it. I don't think I can completely stop playing cricket or stop visiting the East Rock cricket team, I am too attached to them and cricket. It was like a serious commitment for me for the last few years, my weekend plans used to revolve around it, but now it won't be the case. Carry on the baton guys, people come and people go, but the show must go on and you guys know that we all put on an amazing show, so keep it up.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright : Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]