For a fortnight, we had a series of new heroes to cheer. The usual suspects ufffd our Gods in Blue, had taken a backseat and boxers, weightlifters, shooters, archers and wrestlers had taken centre stage
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For a fortnight, we had a series of new heroes to cheer. The usual suspects ufffd our Gods in Blue, had taken a backseat and boxers, weightlifters, shooters, archers and wrestlers had taken centre stage.
The likes of Sushil Kumar, Rahul Bannerjee, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Gagan Narang and Saina Nehwal stood up and made the nation proud. Our medal tally stood at a 38-27-36. As a result, couple of these athletes even managed to bag the occasional brand endorsement and add a few extra bucks to the kitty.
Television channels, newspapers and magazines had a field day displaying toothy smiles of wrestlers coming from the rustic corners of the country. Little known 'knockouts' from the eastern zone of the nation, punched their way into the record books, and to the front pages of national newspapers. Well done, everyone.
Our attention tends to veer around the cricket team all the time, and look what it has done to hockey, our national sport
However, now that the glitz and glamour is over, what will happen to all these lesser-known heroes? How many of them actually have secure jobs? Will they continue to get proper training facilities, nutrition diets and medical assistance from the national sports bodies or do they have to fend for themselves?
These are very simple, but necessary questions that we need to ask at this stage. Our attention tends to veer around the cricket team all the time, and look what it has done to Hockey, our national sport. As a Hockey team, we are no longer a threat to the top ranked teams in the world. Testimony of that is the 0-8 drubbing we got in the CWG finals by Australia.
The only jobs that these athletes can get are with the government bodies, such as the Railways, Customs and nationalised banks. Their pay grades are mostly class IV, which means that their monthly incomes will always stay on the lower end. Isn't it time that we changed this scenario.
Why is it that major corporates are willing to splurge crores on a brand endorser but will shy away from encouraging and hiring other such sportsmen? Why is it that a shooter of Abhinav Bindra's caliber has to pay for his training, from his own pocket?
The Commonwealth Games are over and soon names like Yogeshwar Dutt, Suranjoy Mayengbam, Suma Siddharth Shirur, Jhano Hansdah, Jignas Chittibomma, Bombayala Laishram Devi and Bheigyabati Chanu will be forgotten.
After all the applause dies, do spare a thought for the athletes who have won glory for the nation, and will now go back to their struggle for survival in daily life.
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