The year is 2008 A.D. Atlast an INDIVIDUAL OLYMPIC GOLD for India, a country that boasts one of the oldest civilization as well as SECOND LARGEST population in the world.
I was watching the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics 2008 on our National TV channel DD. There were so many countries participating in the this mother of all sports event (10000+ athletes and sportsmen from more then 80 countries). Many of you will need the help Google to locate some of these countries.
When the Indian team entered the Birds Nest arena, I was pondering that what is it that holds back country like ours from winning medals - Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Olympics. Look at this years' medals tally till date. Countries like Slovakia, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Vietnam, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan feature in the tally. (Ok now even India does thanks to our Golden Boy Abhinav Bindra) Does our country have such dearth of talent that we cannot produce winners? Maybe it is not dearth of talent but availability of facilities as well as state support and interest to excel. One should look at the seriousness of China in winning medals. If there is WILL, then it is POSSIBLE.
We do not win in sports like Soccer, Swimming, Basketball, Tennis or Boxing where one might argue that superior diet and physical features make a lot of difference but what about sports like Table Tennis, Archery, and yes Shooting. These require skills which I dont think are country or creed dependent. But after reading today's Times of India and learning the amount of money spent by Bindra and his father I realize that it is not just about SKILL but MONEY too. And lots of it is required for things like coaching, kits, diet, fitness etc.
I dont think our country will have more of Bindra's and hence till the country (center as well as state governments) really means serious business while preparing for Olympics we will still remain behind countries like maybe even Cayman Islands in the medals tally in the years to come. The plight of sports in our country is hopeless and pathetic.
But for this year thanks to the entrepreneurial activities of "King of a Singh father" his young son Abhinav Bindra won the FIRST ever INDIVIDUAL GOLD MEDAL in Olympics for India. It is a great personal as well as national achievement for him and all credits should ONLY go to him and his proud parents as well as his German coach Frau. Buhlmann.
Congratulations Abhinav!!! Congratulations to Mrs. and Dr. Bindra too.
