Sports in India

Hi all, I had raised an issue yesterday when i said the following:


How many of us know that Dempo won the Indian equivalent of EPL yesterday? Or for that matter, how many of us can name atleast a single player from Dempo? While we fight it out by naming every game ManU or Chelsea played, how many of us can tell Dempo's winning scoreline yesterday? This is how we kill all sports but cricket in India.
While its true that the administrators of All India Football Federation are to be blamed for this plight, its still an issue worth pondering upon. Though i may sound like a nut to be saying this, i'd still like to raise this issue.


There was another counter issue raised saying that:


If Indian football team or the Hockey team was good, we would follow them the same way as cricket. Their performances are so mediocre that there is no point in trying to follow them. Had they been in the top flight like our cricket team, we'll give them a try.



I wish to state further on the above issue.


Its not about football and hockey alone. Our Hockey team is infact in the Top 10 right now. Do people take notice? Absolutely not. They beat Australia (the World Champions) yesterday. Do people or for that matter media care about it? When i started watching hockey (around 1997), India was ranked 4 or 5 in the world. They won the Asia Cup and Asian Games gold medal then. Indian cricket team around the same time was ranked out of top 6 for sure. But did the hockey team get any attention then?

Chess gets some attention now due to the ongoing World Championship match. Otherwise, its totally ignored. As a person who has followed every single game of Viswanathan Anand since Linares 1996, i can say how indifferent the media has been towards him. Rajdeep Sardesai, in his tweet, has rated Anand above Sachin in the list of Greatest Indian Sportspersons post 1947. Barring THE HINDU, none of the mainstream media has given Anand the coverage that he deserves.

A Spanish Grand Master once remarked, "Had Anand been born in our country, we would've made him the PM for his achievements". Such is the adulation that he enjoys somewhere in Spain. Whereas, in our country, a 2005 Outlook survey revealed that more people knew Irfan Pathan than Vishy Anand. While the whole country gets behind Veselin Topalov in Sofia in the current World Championship match, Anand only has to bank on the support of his training team. All these used to make me sick. Now who is to be blamed for this plight? People? Media? Administrators? Anand's is not a one off case.

There used to be a hockey league on the lines of IPL called the PHL - Premier Hockey League. I doubt if it will be held this year for the last i heard was that it was to be discontinued due to lack of support on the part of fans, sponsors and the media. Who's to be blamed now?

In 2006 or 2007, Bobby Aloysius, a promising high jumper from Kerala quit the sport due to lack of support and for ignoring her for the Arjuna award. She had achieved everything and more one can possibly achieve to get the Arjuna award (including an Asian Championship Gold and an Asian Games Silver). She was a front runner for the award that year but her award was given to a cricketer who certainly deserved it less than her. Similar was the case with boxer M C Marykom. In 2008, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award which should have rightfully been given to her was given to MS Dhoni for leading India to 2007 T20 World Cup Triumph . (People please note that even stalwarts like Rahul Dravid and Mahesh Bhupathi have not won that award). Marykom had to fight her case and threaten to quit before she was given the award in 2009. The sad thing in both these cases is that the media hardly lent a ear to their case and the people cared even less. They were happy 'cause a cricketer has got the award.

If we continue treating our sports heroes this way, in 20 years from now, all the Arjuna and Khel Ratna awardees will be cricketers. No use blaming then that the other sportspersons didn't play well and are substandard.

The problem has deep roots and cannot be solved overnight. All i wish to say to people reading this is that,

Watch and enjoy cricket to the fullest. No qualms about that. But do spend a minute or two to atleast know what's happening in Sports other than Cricket in India. You're not going to spend a lifetime to just have a peek at Dempo's scoreline or who the Goal scorers in India's hockey match were. Do that and try to discuss this just for a minute or two in between discussions and friendly chat with your pals. By doing this small thing, you would certainly contribute to the attention that a particular sport receives. Watching a hockey match once in a while is no sin and trust me, it can be fun too. If everyone contributes in a small way like this, then who knows? You might actually be watching the Indian team fighting it out with the likes of England, Spain and Brazil in the 2034 Football World Cup or the Indian team thrashing Australia and Germany in the 2022 Hockey World Cup (the latter could happen much sooner actually).


PS: I've only mentioned what you as a fan can do to uplift these sports and what the media can do. There is the other major issue concerning the administrators of these sports, which shall be discussed later.