Our Olympic shame/ Unpublished article

Must Abhinav Bindras be able to fund themselves for India to win golds not to mention take credit for his win? India’s potential sporting heroes deserve better says Gayatri

NOW that the country has weakened the pace of its Singh is King bhangra to Abhinav Bindra’s individual gold, perhaps it’s time to play spoilsport and remind everyone gently that Bindra’s win was ‘individual’ in the fullest sense – India, the country, the Olympic committee, the sporting heroes and the general public at large had no role to play in Bindra’s victory. He did not train at a government shooting range but at his private and privately funded one, and everything from his confidence-building course in Germany before the Games and his triumph over his debilitating spinal injury, which should have been at government’s expense, and would have been for an athlete of his merit in any other country. But they weren’t. He won because he practiced hard, funded by an indulgent and supportive parents’ substantial personal means. Transport him to any country QED (everything else remaining constant) – Bangladesh or Papua New Guinea – and the win would still have been Bindra’s alone.

Like with Abhinav Bindra, for 15-year old tennis sensation Yuki Bhambhri’s parents have felt the strain of supporting his sporting career. “It’s been very difficult for them. I keep thinking how long can they keep going? You keep thinking, if I don’t win this, I’ll be paying the money from my pocket and that’s so much money down the drain. That’s a lot of pressure to deal with on your game. If I was supported, the pressure would be off and I’d be playing more games.”

Contrast this with 14-year-old diving sensation Tim Daley, who was discovered when he was 8 and has been preparing for his role in grabbing England a diving gold yet. After qualifying for the Olympics as part of the British swim team, Steve Foley, the former Australian Olympic diver who has galvanised the sport in this country as the British performance director, warned newspersons “he may not go further than 2012 if the media and constant pressure on him to perform take their toll. Take the pressure off him.” Psychological mapping, steadying him, managing his endorsements, and caring for his teenage awe of the hype has been as much a part of the process as the actual hours of training. The teenager told the BBC : “Lots of people say ‘go and get the gold’ and I just think I’ve got no chance. I don’t think I am just going for the experience and hoping to do a good performance.”

Bhambhri says the training makes all the difference. “Almost all our international counterparts are supported. They travel with their coaches, both their parents. The government only steps in when it’s a grandslam, but otherwise you’re on your own. I’m happy that with Bindra at least now they have realised his potential. But I have to say if they had done this earlier, India would have had a lot more medals. This country has a lot of talent, if only there was someone to nurture it.”

Ask 28-year-old Viren Rasquinha, former captain of the Indian hockey team, and an Athens Olympics hopeful, threw in his colours in disgust after 6 years of playing for the country and headed out for an MBA at the prestigious Indian School of Business in April this year. “You begin believing it’s enough to love and know the game and you realise that at international levels you’re up against everything but the game,” he says. “At the grassroot level, our domestic teams don’t even touch an Astroturf, they play on grass and on maidans.” Under the mentorship of his coach ‘Bawa’, Viren often distributed hockey kits, shoes, shorts, socks to players on domestic teams. “Our players don’t even receive the funding for basics, let alone keep pace with international circuits. I was fortunate to be at the receiving end. But it doesn’t filter down. There’s no way we can win like this.”
Fed up, Viren left to do an MBA, averring, “Maybe when I return with a degree I can instill some professionalism into the system. I don’t know. I can’t promise anything. There’s no future in this for me.”

For Baichung Bhutia, now in his early 30s but a football sensation since his early teens, individual efforts are not enough. “That’s still fine for a sport like archery, where individual effort and famil support makes a difference. But for a majority of participatory sports in the country, like football, we need the support of the government.”

Although himself trained and supported by the government at various levels, Bhutia says there is still a lot left to be done. “If you compare us to international standards, we are way way behind. There’s no comparison. What we need are facilities, infrastructure, funding, training, competitive games… etc These are what will keep the spirit of the sport going and inculcate the drive to win.

At 22, Armaan Ebrahim, a promising young motor racing star, newly signed up for GP2, 2008, started his racing career at the age of 12. The youngest ever Indian to win the JK Tyre National Formula LGB Single seater Racing car championship, the prodigy would of course credit his father, ex Indian F3 champion Akbar Ebrahim rather than any government body for his potential growth. But probe and fear of invoking government wrath makes sportspersons back off. Akbar Ebrahim refused to comment on what the government could do or has done for nurturing talent for individuals who unlike his son, lack the privilege of a sporting background. Yuvraj Singh also shied clear of comment, for fear of invoking the captain’s wrath. “Everyone’s always afraid to talk about the situation,” says Viren Rasquinha. “That’s because in this country sports has a lot to do with politics and less to do with how you play the game.”

So where do the countries hopefuls go? Along with Bindra, Krishna Poonia in athletics, Joshana Chinappa in squash, Virdhawal Khade in swimming and Saina Nehwal in badminton are others making a splash in their respective sports and are all currently under the spotlight in Beijing. The common thread? All were privately trained, funded and sponsored by the LN Mittal Trust and don’t have so much to thank the Indian government for. Manisha Malhotra, administrative coordinator of the Trust speaking to Timeslife from Beijing takes the pride of the organization having mothered these youngsters. Exhausted after packing Bindra back home, but exhilarated, she says “Our aim is to put India on the medal grid by the 2012 Olympics and we have been focused on identifying champions and providing them the bets possible facilities to further their training.”


The alternative route to success for many then is private corporations who enjoy investing in sports as part of their corporate social responsibility programmes. Youngsters such as Gaurav Ghei for instance on the golfing circuit gaining sponsors such as Deutsche Bank, early in their careers. The GVK industries chairman GVK Reddy who has stood shoulder to shoulder with Sania Mirza monetarily since she was 13. The Tata Archery Academy run by Tata Steel at Jamshedpur has been consistently supporting sportspersons and gainingsilent marches of victory that have failed to generate the kind of hype that more mundane achievements in cricket have. The trio of A Donda Raju, Rajib Basumatary and Ravinder Hembram created world archery history when they put a never before achieved combined score of 440 at the world archery championship in Mexico. In Chennai, Steria, a France-based multinational IT services provider, invests heavily in finding football geniuses. After successfully making the Mumbai Marathon an annual movement with momentum of its own, Standard Chartered Bank is now looking to empower women in villages through netball. Each corporation is on its personal quest that may lead to stray victories, but the fact remains India as a nation is ill geared for the quantum leap into a winning streak. That, remains in the hands of the government, aver sportspersons.

As Bhutia puts it, “Of course we are proud of Bindra and we have a right to take pride in the fact that he represented the nation, even if the merit of it was his own personal effort. Hopefully, his win will bring hope to the many talented kids around. What’s important is the whole package – the positivity about the sport, a good clean healthy environment. That’s what makes winners.”