Golden games

And it was a golden end to a rusted beginning. Rusted beginnings are very common for Indian sports contingent. Any games start with a controversy for the Indian contingent. Be it the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games or any other sporting encounter. Such games are always associated with scandals and controversies. Infact that is all that can be associated with Indian contingent at international meets. When it comes to the actual games, barring a few exceptions, the team always puts up a no-show. But this time round, though the contingent started the Commonwealth Games with their usual false start (read controversy), the team found the right track. And this time round, it was not only a couple of silvers and bronze medals and the exceptional gold to wipe out the false start, but a handful of gold and almost equal number of silvers and bronze that fell into the kitty. Infact India is ranked fourth on the medals tally list.
So is that news? Looking at it positively, yes, it is news. Considering the fact that it has been ages since India managed to get so many medals at a major tournament. But then can one ignore the fact that a country with a population of one billion gets only 40 medals? And that it is not topping the medals tally list. Shouldn’t there be more medals? So is the country lacking in talent? Definitely not. What we are lacking in is approach. The approach of the government towards sports. The approach of people towards sports. Sports should be looked at like any other profession. And when one talks about sports, it should not be only cricket or tennis. It should include other sports as well. The important thing is to give these sports enough publicity and more importantly sponsorships. Once this happens, the attitudes of people will automatically change. And there is no better time to do something about it, than now with so many golds for support.