Clamorworld congratulates Haryana’s Sakshi Malik for her stupendous performance at Rio Olympics and finally ending India’s medal drought. Her podium finish and the superlative performance surely won her many accolades, cash prizes and lot other benefits. But as the nation basks in the reflected glory brought by this 23 year old gritty girl, my question is where was all the attention and the words of encouragement before she achieved the feat?
Even as the number of Indian players in contention for medals kept dwindling we heard of names like PV Sindhu and Yogeshwar Dutt but dear Sakshi was not mentioned. This is many ways is symptomatic of the typical herd mentality that we have in terms of appreciating a sport that ain’t cricket and the sportsperson who often burn the midnight oil to make themselves ready for such significant international event. Even in cricket, there are a very few who get encouraged for their efforts before the world starts singing their praise.
As a country we always believe in deriding our talents the moment they slip a bit or do not perform as per expectation. That does not mean that I am advocating non-performance but the fact is why do we resort to blame game the moment these hardworking sports personalities are unable to win a medal for the country or glory for themselves. We would have socialites tweeting that how our athletes are busy taking selfies. Not only is this type of comment very discouraging and hits a performer’s morale but also often brings forth our selfish mentality. We kind of appreciate the ones who are very famous and the underdogs are never acknowledged.
Sports by its mettle is never really about only winning and losing. The fact that we had the largest ever contingent to Olympics is something to be celebrated. That in itself should be catalyst enough to encourage our budding stars and inspiring them to achieve bigger glory. So what if Abhinav Bindra missed a medal this time, let’s also celebrate the fact here lost our by a fraction of a margin. Let’s not forget how amazing Dipa Karmakar’s Prudonova was and that should be the platform from where she prepares for bigger glory in next Olympics. Winning glory will always occupy pole position but let’s also learn to celebrate the feats of every participant and all their effort.
Leave a reply