Sporting 🇮🇳 Feathers
Feeling the wind brush against your cheeks as you sprint like a thoroughbred horse is a feeling only the athletes can best understand.
And, the sweet joy of battling it out at deuce-points in lawn tennis or tie-breaker in other field-games is something even indoor carom board players would vouchsafe.
Victory is a delight.
Not merely for the winner but also the runner-ups, other contestants. As well as audience of onlookers.
The ‘real’ fun has got diluted manifold in era of ‘live’ telecasts and bettors aplenty. Although, the reach has far widened to span millions across the globe.
Be a Sport.
– This, the message. Of every game of sporting-nature. Even the ‘shikaris’ or huntsmen of past centuries had ethical values.
What exactly constitutes a ‘sport’?
Fortunately, not all games originated the ghastly, inhumane way in which football is believed to have originated with heads of soldiers fallen in battleground being kicked around by drunk victors of a war .
Dice. Archery. Fencing.
Chess. Other board games .
Snake & ladders.
Monopoly.
Discus throw. Javelin throw. Long jump. High jump. Triple jump.
Marathon race. Short distance & longer distance running competitions.
Relay race. Decathlon.
Swimming. Wrestling. Boxing.
Martial arts. Rifle-Shooting.
Equestrian. billiards. Snooker.
Gymnastics.
Cricket. Tennis. Badminton. Table tennis. Hockey. Football. Rugby. Volleyball.
Basketball. Golf.
– These are merely indicative disciplines of the wide variety of games & sports.
Ancient Olympics .
Modern Olympic Games.
Para Olympics.
Winter Olympics.
And, then, we have the professional circuit . The amateurs. The rankings.
et all..
All world has evolved with technology. Gadgetry is being used widely for ascertaining micro-second precision of timings and records attained by breaking earlier ones.
The saga continues ..
Ethics.
This alone remains constant across the centuries of evolution of sporting gamesmanship.
And, it is in the violation or adherence of these codes of ethical play which seem to determine the difference between winners, losers and also-rans.
Those disqualified and eliminated due to negative dope-tests are a sad lot of course. More because, they know, more than anyone else, that all men are equal but some are more equal, in this Darwinian world of ‘ might is right ‘ .
Puzzled?
Yes.
These few know that drugs are banned only after they are discovered as stimulants to stellar performance.
Human beings compile the list, constantly update these banned substances’ list, on a regular-basis. These additions are supposedly additives which vest an unfair advantage to the substance-users over other contestants of a tournament.
However, these bodies of officials quiet conveniently forget to disrobe the earlier users who have been crowned with glory. It is on this simple account that poor fellows from third world who are found to use certain drugs are banned from competing.
They little realize that advanced competitors have by such time of dope-testing, advanced to use of substances not yet listed. Hence, cleared to participate in the competition.
Shocking?
Scandalous?
True stories corroborate the finding.
Politics.
Bias, prejudice, nepotism.
The second worst syndrome afflicting all sporting federations. At Least in our billion-plus country.
Why?
Gender-crimes. Greed. Lust for fame.
Sharing spoils of victory of a ward by the coach(es).
Suffice it to say a certain evil force has risen to fame in this very fashion to enjoy glory of a star-performer in a certain Olympic sport.
Being privy to the unjust treatment of another Olympic performer who still plays well by this very coach who usurped, grabbed State patronage facilities on grounds of caste and style of ‘ pulling the levers’ of powers-that-be, to be allotted land for a coaching academy.
And, soon…
Atlas shrugged ! So do we !!
The real game-changer for India is to have a pragmatic view of how the world scenarios is . .
As to how it has undergone a transformation. From being a planet of skills to becoming a power-game connoisseur!
Style, rules, format of skill-centres games like say for instance, Field-Hockey have distanced India from the gold medal. Power-games have an altogether different scenario.
Open our eyes !
Let us view from the top of the summit – the Olympic Games!!
There are few races who are genetically conditioned for power games. The gene if an Indian is more oriented towards games of skill, artistry and intelligence. Not brute force . Nor power of muscles.
So, exclude ourselves from those impossible streams of sports & games events at the Olympics.
Focus on disciplines requiring skills.
Such as ?
Wrestling, Archery, Rifle-shooti ng, table tennis and so on.. The Central Government is in possession of all records, statistics and game-wise performance-results. They are the best judge, to decide the fifteen or thirty disciplines to be patronized.
Athletic events too attract genetic stamina and DNA-composition of few scheduled-tribes who live in the forest and hilly-regions.
Hence, focus only on such streams of sports & games which demand skills, artistry and an intelligent use of body-mass and game-situation.
No steroid use.
Only scientific equipment for training and natural settings to nurture their individual talent and inclination for chosen game or sporting event.
How to go about it ?
Set up a National Academy. .
Adopt children from class five onwards after screening tests on physique, IQ and aptitude / psychometric tests conducted by a team of army and medical experts.
Select a hundred in each discipline from all parts of the country.
Train them at this academy.
Free of cost .
Provide best of nutrition, meditation, yoga, Bhar atnatyam or Kuchipudi dance lessons (as distinct from aerobics classes), all free of charge to these cadets of sports.
Discipline them in their respective discipline of sporting games.
Nurture. Groom. Enable.
Then, empower them all to participate in world events.
Without stress, bias, petty political manoeuvrings.
Be assured they will bring glory for the nation. A great majority of them.
What after they outgrow the ‘competition-age’?
Recruit them as coaches in the very same academy. Their career becomes one of ‘sports & games’, initially as learners and subsequently, as coaches.
No constraints?
Fund resources?
No sweat. No constraints.
An able charismatic PM like Modi Ji can hold sway and invite all industrial houses, MNCs, private trusts and charitable societies to contribute to the corpus and annual upkeep of the Academy (including the disciples, coaches other support personnel) to the Special Fund to be created under direct control of the Honourable Prime Minister whose office would in turn disburse necessary sums to the Academy Director, on a periodical basis, duly audited ,etc.
Thus, not even any regional satrap of CM on or corporate honcho can tinker with admissions, selections, standard s and all other criterion.
Be a sporting nation.
Silence the critics.
Help the able.
Do not disable talent.
Worship these endowed with graceful victories.
To bless future generations.
Life is a blessing.
Blessed are sportspersons. Who ought not to turn actors. Nor, socks-stealing shop-lifters or power-hungry politicians hobnobbing with street-goons or global gangsters.
The fraternity must be as blemish-less as soldiers on the borders and not stoop down to levels of pick-pockets or fallen souls.
India deserves all medals for which it’s citizens are naturally endowed with.
Win all the skill-games. Leave the power-games to other countries.
Watch the medal-tally rise by leaps & bounds, eventually!
Any objection?
PS- It was an overwhelming moment when the author got a golden opportunity to hold and carry the Olympic Torch in London in 2012 one bright sunny morning, most unexpectedly.
And, all that heap of certificates, row of trophies and medals won throughout academic years in sporting & games events, incl C.K.Nayudu, Ranji, were outclassed by the feeling of joy that swept in those few minutes.
Such is the aura of the Five Rings that bind the Globe of Nations, into one loving planet for co-existence, peace and harmonious development.
Imagine the pride when we have more winners from the motherland singing the national anthem, on the podium as actual participating-winners at Olympic Games, here on…!
Vandey Mataram!
- Myth of Myth - September 19, 2023
- The Witches’ Brew - September 15, 2023
- Institutions as Custodians - September 14, 2023
No Objection Sir, It is a wonderful piece…very inspiring….then why to object