Commonwealth Games 2010: Where is the Spirit?

With the commonwealth games right next door, and Delhi getting all cleaned up for the participants with apartments and stadiums being built, there is a hypocrisy that has very surprisingly not hit us yet. Do we, as Indians, who don’t even know about each local sport played in our country, have the right to acknowledge international sportsmen?

There are innumerable sports like Kayaking, Kabbadi, Korfball, Sepak Takraw, Bandy, Floorball, Lacrosse etc which haven’t ever been even heard by people, including the “well read” ones like you and me. Even I had to look up the Wikipedia to search for the relatively “local” sports of India. But the point that has been made here is not about the awareness we people have, but it’s about selective publicity of sports. There is a general trend that has been observed in sports, that the ones which are played in other sports and are known in other countries, are the ones which are given their due publicity, exposure and encouragement in India. However, my logic and rationality fails here to understand the reason for the same. Do we lack the courage to make our sport international by encouraging people in it, or are we too lazy to an amalgamation of both. We are scared to take the road less travelled.

There is another issue that needs to be highlighted here, about sports in general, whether the local or the international ones. Are we actually ready to take up any sport as a recognised profession, let alone publicizing our local sports? Before the IPL, how many of us had even heard of something known as a sports manager, before we could think about taking it up. How many of the parents suggest their children to consider sports as an option, when the child is confused about his/her career prospects. How many parents LET the child take up sports as his/her career when they insist for the same. The answer, whether we accept it or not, is very clear- Hardly a few! Majority of the students look towards being a MBA, an IAS, and an Army officer. But how many even consider the option of being a sports manager, or a sports man. And if it’s a group of people on the verge of extinction, then why is it so?

Then comes the point about girls being encouraged in sports. Now, as discussed above, even if a few people take up sports as a career in India, and out of those even a smaller section is females, then even those don’t have the social will and the sports infrastructure to initiate change in the status quo. This aspect is a long debated one, so I wouldn’t elaborate on it.

Hence from local sports to recognition to gender bias, India seems to be losing the sportsman spirit in all senses, both literally and metaphorically.