Rio Olympics- A lesson to India.

               First of all, hearty congratulations to the whole Indian Contingent for putting their best efforts at Rio. I thank Sakshi and Sindhu for their medals for the country. Though we have won only two medals, if we look at the leader board positions in many event our Indians gave very tough fight. Some of them are really close like Deepa Karmakar, Abhinav Bindra missed by fractions. Some finished in respectable positions especially in Athletics, Sculls, Shooting. We lost important games in Hockey Archery, Wrestling, Boxing, Tennis and Badminton which doesn’t mean we are outplayed totally; it is just an odd bad day. Those games might have gone anybody’s way.  Overall we have improved our performance at Olympics.Just number of medals doesn’t speak everything. But still we have many questions to answer.

                   We are only next to china in population but why we had to wait for 12 days since the start of Olympics to register a medal on our name. Countries with population less than many of our states are able to secure more medals. Does India lack talent? No, India has got talent but not enough opportunities.  There are people who blame cricket for dominating other sports. Yes it dominates, but it doesn’t hold sole responsibility. There are several other important factors.  The facilities to other sports are seldom. Cricket is an easy game in terms of accessibility. It can be played on streets, farms and sometimes inside rooms with a little creativity, but this is not the case with other sports. Even in terms of profession, cricketers have more facilities and opportunities. This alone can’t be stated as reason for other sports loosing attention. Overall the importance given to sports in India is less. The average amount spent on sports per person in India is far behind what they spent in China and most of the countries for that matter. Today governments are competing to announce prizes for the Olympic medalists. Its good, but the problem is different, we lack facilities, compete in providing facilities, the talented are getting submerged under economical barriers and politics. There are only few who are lucky to get an opportunity. The people who had won medals for India are great and are deserved to get rewards and recognition. This doesn't mean the others who had given their best but had a bad day are not worthy. They need more support. Most of them fought hard, it is our responsibility to give our support to them and help them to perform better next time. It is heartbreaking to hear about an athlete who fainted due to unavailability of water. We had sent other officials including union minister to help our athletes. I don't want to comment more. Governments and authorities are very busy in their own politics. The unworthy politicians and other people should be kept away from these. There are many who know the sports better so that they manage those respective academies and organizations. The encouragement is needed when the players actually need it. This is needed for those who gave their best but missed closely. This is needed for those who lack facilities. This is needed to those who are struggling for opportunities. This dedication is needed in providing facilities to them. Had they spent that money in improving the facilities we might have won more medals. The other bitter truth is education in India dominates sports. Very few people believe the sports and games are the part of education. Our education system itself is ruined by giving stress on quantity of marks rather than the quality of education. This is the reason why we are neither able to produce gold medalists in Olympics nor able to produce noble prize winners of science. No offence, we are just good at producing rankers and toppers whose ultimate goal is to settle in life with a job with a good package. There are people who think out of box, who are multi talented but those are not given opportunities to express themselves. Most of the parents don’t give importance to sports and physical education. Most of the schools don’t provide its students with proper physical education. Most of the schools are expanding vertically but there are very less schools which provide ground and other facilities to their students. The lack of urban planning made our modern cities deprived of empty spaces and grounds. This attitude of parents and management should change. The physical training and sports should be given enough importance. The education should be knowledge centered rather than giving importance to the quantity of marks. There are many qualities which can't be infiltrated into students through books. Sports and games is one way to enrich one's character, one's capability to tackle pressure situations. Students should be given opportunities in every field. We need competitions of various events at school level, college level, state level and national level. We need leagues in all fields at national level like IPL, Pro Kabadi. We need to recognize talent from every nuke and corner of the country. We need to celebrate national science day and national sports day as we celebrate our national festivals. We need dedicated coaches and dedicated teachers. We need CHANGE to Change our fate at Olympics or any other international platform. 

Jai Hind. Satyamevajayate.