After witnessing the recent Tokyo Olympics 2020, we saw the raw Indian talent among athletes from various sports- Weightlifting, badminton, boxing, wrestling, hockey and javelin. Now we have realised that India has incredible potential, more than one could think.
For these athletes to reach the podium, wearing a medal, of the colour that was emblematic of their hard work, determination and the ‘never give up’ attitude, was not an easy journey, well at least not easier than for the cricketers. They have nothing to fear because they are given all the facilities- more like luxuries when they travel, they are given separate rooms, there is always one person to carry their equipment, they need not worry about anything. If we show equality in sports too, then we can excel and reach greater heights. We should ask ourselves this question- Is India a one sport nation? Are we doing justice to all sports in the country? Are we just paying attention to the colonial sport called cricket?
This has been India’s best performance in the Olympics in four decades. Our Olympic champions have done it without any advertisement shoots or mega broadcaster promotions. They trained and performed to uphold the purity of the Olympic spirit. For the country which has realized its potential with one sport, it's time that India now does their bit for these champions. The least we could do, as citizens, as fans and as Indians, is to glorify and celebrate their achievements and pay equal if not more attention to these sports. We fail to remember that we need to treat all sports equally.
We have no problem at all, spending money on going to the stadium to watch IPL(Indian Premier League), Test cricket, ODI’s (One Day Cricket) thousands of crores of our money is being pumped to glamorize cricket, but aren’t we forgetting that we have so many other sports which are yet to receive acclaim? What about our indigenous sports like Kho-Kho, Kabaddi or our very own Indian Football team? In my opinion, Mira Bai Chanu, PV Sindhu, Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Neeraj Chopra, Lovlina Borgohain and the Men’s Hockey team have opened the eyes of our nation which had fallen prey to the spotlight sport, cricket. This should be the turning point in Indian sport, we should look beyond cricket and emerge as a multi-sport nation.
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