Abhinav Bindra finally did this for India, a country of over a billion people. What a tremendous feat. First for India since we haven't had a Gold by an Individual performer so far. When Hockey gold medals stopped, we stopped getting any. Though there was this occasional tennis or a weight-lifting one.
Now, when we have got one the big question is that what next ? So while I was brooding on this topic, I got an idea and over last two days I have spoken about it to few people and everyone agreed. And I thought that I would rather share it here, may be it really make sense.
The idea is that we should start to focus on ONLY skill based games. In other words, we should not be spending money on Athletics or Soccer or any of those high stamina, physical power games. Rather spend time and money on Archery, Chess (I think its not part of Olympics as yet), Shooting, Badminton, Table Tennis etc and dont do 100/200/400 m races, swimming, boxing etc. If we have to choose athletics then may be get trained for Marathons and not 100 m sprints.
The logic is that probably our body is not built for those sports. Even our hockey was more skill and less power. Ramesh Krishnan who did some wonders was mostly on touch-play rather them power-play like Pete Sampras. May be the kind of climate we are in, the kind of food we eat, may be the kind of philosophy we all grow with is not suited for these sports. We are a tolerant lot and probably you need a much aggressive guy to make that 100 m sprint, which as a society we are lacking.
Just an idea. If you like it then comment. May be its the golden idea we have been waiting for :)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Olympic Gold, What next ?
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8 comments:
That is a direction of thought that evokes a serious "i agree".. Even I feel we are nation of more skill than stamina..
I have heard the same from few of the folks I bounced this idea with. Thanks for your comment David.
I agree nandan. Even cricket we play is more skill then power.
And Manish, your carrom is definitely much more a skill game then a calculate business game. I think, we are probably good at stuff where you do not have to play strictly by rules and more by gut or flair.
Nandan, My gut feeling says that your idea holds. Let us see what is in store for India in todays bouts...I surely wish I am proved wrong today:-)
And Voila...
Just in... one more bronze... I am wrong...
Sushil Kumar wins bronze in 66Kg...
But what is the big deal? Why should our national pride be eroded if we are not able to get any stand in the tally at Olympics? If Jamaica,Zambia or Sierra Leone win more medals, do they have a reason to feel better?
Good points nopretense.
As you know by now that we have one more in Boxing. I think wrestling and boxing may still come under 'skill' :). Sorry If I am sounding like trying to include them because we won. I thought more and especially after reading that how the other boxer defeated Akhil Kumar by showing lot of patience. In Wresting, I believe we have good infrastructure at grass roots, its just that our Akhada is not like ring, and we fail there. Its the same hockey story (Astroturf vis-a-vis ground).
2. 2nd point is really though provoking. Does a medal in Olympics is everything ? I believe not. But my questions is about 'where to focus' rather then 'If we focus well and win then our pride would get better' so that still holds. In my opinion, its more a matter of identifying our strengths and then using them instead of trying to be a master of all.
Nandan, my second point was not connected to the rest of the comment, though it might have appeared that way.
What I meant was in fact quite what you are saying. Identify carefully and focus on what we do well, instead of trying to riding so many boats.
For instance, if we do well in a particular sport, for instance cricket, why does it get pitted everytime against hocky, football, now it would be shooting and boxing etc in which we are not doing so well? It is just that we enjoy playing and following cricket as a nation for some strong reasons. So other sports bodies should not feel neglected if we are a world class cricket team, howsoever small that world is.
Similarly, it is good enough if we are able to pursue a leadership status in IT and ITES, so what if we are not able to do 100m in 5 seconds. We are a nation of highest population, so our resources are more finely distributed, and can we really sustain the crores that Bindra had to spend for his training, and is that really necessary even if we can?
We should not need the excuses of CW games for the development that Delhi is undergoing or is likely to do. I was shuddering what the situation otherwise would have been of the areas like East Delhi, where now only they have realised that a flyover was needed at Ghazipur crossing.
Thanks
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