Hey Friends,
Earlier this day I was going through an article, and I was very upset at the ending while reading it. It was an article about the India cricketers who just won the ICC Champions Trophy and have been awarded with 1 crore rupees each from the government of our nation . If it were any other sport the prize amount would have half of this. There's a reason why Indians do badly in sports that require high levels of physical fitness.For India, despite its vast population (1.22 billion at the last count) and genetic diversity, has had an astonishingly unimpressive record in international athletic achievement. India won only one medal each year at the Games in 1996 (bronze), 2000 (bronze) and 2004 (silver). In Beijing in 2008, the Indian team won three medals including a gold, but was ranked 50th among all the nations participating, behind tiny countries like Belgium, Finland and the Dominican Republic. It is a shame that our country which has one-sixth of the total world population has to try hard to get even a single bronze medal in the Olympics.
So why is India so bad at games, is it because of cricket?
YES, cricket is indeed killing other sports in India. People of India treat cricket as their fifth Veda or fifth religion after Hinduism, Islam, Sikh & Christianity. Cricket is not our national game, but it is celebrated as a festival, thanks to our Board, Government, sponsors and the media. There are very few people who can name more six players of any other sports like hockey, football, tennis etc. No one remembers the Olympic bronze medals won by tennis star Leander Paes (Atlanta, 1996) and weightlifter Karnam Malleswari (Sydney, 2000), but Anil Kumble's 10-wicket haul, Harbhajan's hat-trick, and Virender Sehwag's 309 will be evergreen in memory. In fact, hockey is our national game and India has won many gold medals in the Olympics, but all we remember is Kapil Dev's team winning the cricket World Cup in 1983.
I am not against cricket, but according to me every other sports should get the same respect and support by public, government and media just like cricket. Cricket is clearly killing other sports in India. The widespread popularity of this game among the people, the tremendous media attention given to it both by the print and TV media has halted the progress of all other sports in our country.
Players of international fame and caliber in other sports are not given the proper media support and attention as well as proper facilities for further development. Quite a lot of them are disgusted with this sort of treatment and some of them have also threatened to give up Indian citizenship to fulfill their ambitions. They know that they have the potential and can play for any other nation where they will not only be respected but also they'll be treated well.
It is not all just the media or the government who should be blamed, our parents are also involved in it knowingly or unknowingly. Just go back to your childhood when you were 4-5 years old, and try to remember that weather the 'bat and ball' were your first introduction to the sports world. In India more 80% of the parents offer their children with bat & ball rather than football or badminton.
The popularity of cricket by all means restricted to the Indian subcontinent only. It has clearly lost ground in the West Indies and England. They don't play cricket now with such vigour and attitude as they used to do before. I don't know why we are going after it when even England, where cricket was born, doesn't give it too much attention.
Hockey is the national sport of our nation, despite of that excluding just few states like Punjab and Haryana were it is a dominant game every other state prefer cricket. In fact, hockey sticks have became a mere weapon used the underworld and gangsters in Hindi, Tamil and other regional movies. Now this is definetly a BIG SHAME!!! The immense media attention for this game has reduced India's status and rank in a game like hockey where India has such an excellent tradition and record. I believe India has a better record in hockey than what Brazil has in soccer.
Before wrapping-up, lets play a simple guessing game:
Q 1) Guess this team and which trophy are they holding?
Q 2) Now, guess this team and which trophy are they holding?
Ans. 1) That is the Indian football team holding the Nehru Cup
Ans. 2) I am 200% sure that you must have recognized it because its the "Indian Cricket Team with World Cup
Final Words.
Sports are meant to be played for fun and entertainment, not for earning money. Wages are one thing but betting, match-fixing and spot-fixing are totally disaster for any sport. If we want our nation to compete with USA and China we have to respect and offer same standard of facilities to other sports just like cricket. If cricket has to continue as it is then India should really learn from Australia, which, though it has a good cricket team, promotes and encourages other sports as well. Australia comes within the top five in the Olympics medals tally.
Please Respect Sports, not just Cricket
Aniruddha
So why is India so bad at games, is it because of cricket?
YES, cricket is indeed killing other sports in India. People of India treat cricket as their fifth Veda or fifth religion after Hinduism, Islam, Sikh & Christianity. Cricket is not our national game, but it is celebrated as a festival, thanks to our Board, Government, sponsors and the media. There are very few people who can name more six players of any other sports like hockey, football, tennis etc. No one remembers the Olympic bronze medals won by tennis star Leander Paes (Atlanta, 1996) and weightlifter Karnam Malleswari (Sydney, 2000), but Anil Kumble's 10-wicket haul, Harbhajan's hat-trick, and Virender Sehwag's 309 will be evergreen in memory. In fact, hockey is our national game and India has won many gold medals in the Olympics, but all we remember is Kapil Dev's team winning the cricket World Cup in 1983.
I am not against cricket, but according to me every other sports should get the same respect and support by public, government and media just like cricket. Cricket is clearly killing other sports in India. The widespread popularity of this game among the people, the tremendous media attention given to it both by the print and TV media has halted the progress of all other sports in our country.
Players of international fame and caliber in other sports are not given the proper media support and attention as well as proper facilities for further development. Quite a lot of them are disgusted with this sort of treatment and some of them have also threatened to give up Indian citizenship to fulfill their ambitions. They know that they have the potential and can play for any other nation where they will not only be respected but also they'll be treated well.
It is not all just the media or the government who should be blamed, our parents are also involved in it knowingly or unknowingly. Just go back to your childhood when you were 4-5 years old, and try to remember that weather the 'bat and ball' were your first introduction to the sports world. In India more 80% of the parents offer their children with bat & ball rather than football or badminton.
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| This is Hockey in India :( |
Hockey is the national sport of our nation, despite of that excluding just few states like Punjab and Haryana were it is a dominant game every other state prefer cricket. In fact, hockey sticks have became a mere weapon used the underworld and gangsters in Hindi, Tamil and other regional movies. Now this is definetly a BIG SHAME!!! The immense media attention for this game has reduced India's status and rank in a game like hockey where India has such an excellent tradition and record. I believe India has a better record in hockey than what Brazil has in soccer.
Before wrapping-up, lets play a simple guessing game:
Q 1) Guess this team and which trophy are they holding?
Q 2) Now, guess this team and which trophy are they holding?
Ans. 1) That is the Indian football team holding the Nehru Cup
Ans. 2) I am 200% sure that you must have recognized it because its the "Indian Cricket Team with World Cup
Final Words.
Sports are meant to be played for fun and entertainment, not for earning money. Wages are one thing but betting, match-fixing and spot-fixing are totally disaster for any sport. If we want our nation to compete with USA and China we have to respect and offer same standard of facilities to other sports just like cricket. If cricket has to continue as it is then India should really learn from Australia, which, though it has a good cricket team, promotes and encourages other sports as well. Australia comes within the top five in the Olympics medals tally.
Please Respect Sports, not just Cricket
Aniruddha
Rightly said bro.... Hockey, our national game is almost forgotten due to cricket...
ReplyDelete100% True... :(
ReplyDeleteYou are right Anirudhha, actually Cricket & Sports in India is getting more attention of the people today. Government is not taking care of other games which must also be equal importance. I don't think that there is limitation of talent in India. As Hockey national game of India even not given the importance then how can any other game. Need to do something seriously.
ReplyDelete