Sushil Kumar

When the Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar won the world championship and went along with his guru to meet the sports minister, M S Gill, the Minister shrugged him aside and clicked his photograph along with the wrestler. Is this how the gurus are to be treated, that too from a Minister who masters over the sports fraternity of the country? Is it more a frustration of a Minister who is facing flak for the shoddy Commonwealth Games that came out in the form of insult to the guru of Sushil Kumar? Whatever may have been the provocation such kind of behavior was not warranted from the Minister, more so in the full-media glare.

For an individual sports it is the coach that matters for the player, be it wrestling, boxing, tennis, badminton or chess? And if the coach is humiliated in the full public glory it could have ramifications on the performance of the player, as it could happen in case of Sushil during the CWG. Therefore the boxer Virender Kumar had also commented that this kind of thing should not have happened.

The players really worship their gurus. Who could be a better example than Sachin Tendulkar who still makes it a point to visit his guru Ramakant Achrekar, and his elder brother whom Sachin considers as the mentor? We have been taught through our scriptures that between a god and a guru it is the guru who has to be revered first as he provides the channel vehicle to reach god, but it seems our leaders are so much obsessed with their image that they do not consider anybody above them. it is more of a psychology than anything else, the operative psychology that guides our political discourse, it being that the politicians are the mai-baap and nobody stands in comparison to them. But is it not the case of basking in the reflected glory? For the Minister it was an opportunity where he could have made announcements to popularize the sports and could have won hearts, and even this unsavory incident would have been forgotten. The opportunity has still not been lost and remedial steps may be adopted.

As a matter of fact wrestling as sports is developing in the country owing to pains taken by these gurus and not owing to the institutional support created by government. It is their passion which is guiding the game, and if more such incidents happen, the guru may also hang his boots, after all there is something called pride.

By: Suman Rai

Tags: Badminton, Boxing, Chess, Commonwealth Games, CWG 2010, Guru, Indian Sports, M S Gill, Sports, Sports India, Sushil Kumar, Tennis, World Championship, Wrestler, Wrestling