In spite of the performance by the Olympic Association of India, bureaucracy of various sports federations, durable political chairpersons of various federations and Sports Ministry, three medallists, one gold and two bronze, were credited to Indian individual players at the ongoing Beijing Olympics.

I have been watching the tally of medals for a few decades. Our zero medals records have been occasionally broken by a single silver or bronze. Records show that we have never won an individual gold medal. It is for the first time that Abhinav Bindra won such a medal. The nation was almost in the 'India participated' category. Earlier in the 20th century, gold medals in hockey entitled India to be in the category of eligible 'gold medal aspirants'. With each decline in the contingent of competing sportsmen, the number of Indian team managers increased. The experienced commentators often reported managerial wrangling in the games management.

Events like Olympics have turned extremely humiliating not only to sportsmen and sports lovers but also to common man. Medal tally watchers always started from the bottom and found India's name somewhere along the list; it was either a silver or bronze mentioned against the country's name. The media would go ga ga over that as if a nation of over a billion has found a sports hero. A Hindi newspaper cartoonist felt so humiliated at India's performance that he reacted with the punchline, kya kuch le de ke Bharat ka naam, neeche hee sahee, medal list mein naheen dalvaya ja sakta? (Can India's name be included even at the bottom by bribery?)

Our hockey team, which brought glory to India for decades could not even qualify for the Beijing Olympics. The standard of our games: athletics, swimming, wrestling, shooting have suffered gradual decline. In the last Olympics, Rajyavardhan Singh was the lone saviour with a silver medal. Abhinav Bindra's gold medal is like drop of water in a desert. India is number two in the world, population-wise. After China's 1.3 billion people, we have a population of 1.09 billion. Looking at the size of the economy, India stands fourth in the world. Even after economic mismanagement, India's GDP growth is likely to be about 7.5 per cent, which would be second only to China. The number of India's victorious armed forces and war capability can be testified by the four Indo-Pak wars. India's brainpower is recognised among the best in the world. But in Olympics, India's muscle power has been pitiable. It is not because India does not have the muscle power. People do have it. There is nothing genetically wrong with the Indians. NRIs in various parts of the world have proved it time and again.

Have you heard the name of Panama, Bahrain, Cameroon, Thailand, Mongolia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Slovania, Azerbaijan, Norway, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Denmark and others? Their population is less than one crore but the numbers of their medals are to be seen to be believed. Jamaica's population is only 27,58,000. In the Beijing Olympics, their medal tally is four golds and three silvers. We are on the 48th position. Our Olympic Association president said that in Beijing Olympics we should not expect much in terms of medals as we are preparing for the 2012 London Olympics. Also, as per our philosophy, India participates in the Olympics for the sake of sportsman's spirit (not for medals).

The medal tally of Beijing Olympics shows that better performing countries do not play cricket: China, USA, Russia, Germany, Korea, Japan, Italy, Ukraine, Netherlands, France, Spain, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus. Cricket is played in the countries earlier ruled by Britain

As far as India is concerned, cricket has acquired the status of a national game. Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) is the richest sports body. The top position in the Board is held by Sharad Pawar, a Union Cabinet Minister. In Bihar, the state cricket board is headed by Lalu Prasad Yadav, again a Union Cabinet Minister. Decline of Indian sports is due to this newly born national game, cricket.

One can recall that when Abhinav Bindra stood at the victory stand and India's National Anthem was sung, every Indian felt proud. Bindra's father has a business worth Rs 500 crores. Therefore, he could afford to provide the facility required for practice and training.

Bindra's father did not lose time in complaining that the Government and others who matter in the Olympics Association did practically nothing for Abhinav's growth. On the other side individuals who have achieved in Beijing Olympics are being awarded in crores. This is not love for sports but for grabbing media attention and sharing the glory hard earned by the individual players.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, August 24, 2008