Indian Sports
Ask anyone about what they feel for Indian sports. There are some very stereotyped answers that you will get. Some people may just respond with a confused “What?”Others may go on about cricket, and how it is a religion. When you question them further, they will tell you that India is hopeless as far as other sports go. Very few people are actually aware of the wonderful achievements that India has made in the field of sports. Most people think that sports in India are mostly about cricket. They feel that since politics is involved in a big way, no one really cares, unless is a big money spinner. People are only ready to invest in the field where they see a lot of money.
However, this is not completely true. The Indian sports industry is not entirely a hopeless case. Although the rakings in The Olympics for India are really bad, what people fail to notice is that The Olympics doesn’t include some excellent areas in sports where India really has a lot of scope. These include snooker, billiards, chess, cricket, formula one and so on. Mr. Chandrababu Naidu was one of the few enterprising and visionary leaders who saw the huge potential that India has in the area of F1 racing. However, due to his loss in the following elections, his grand plans to build an F1 track in India went for a toss.
India has some extremely bright jewels in these fields. Pankaj Adwani is the world champion in billiards and snooker, and has won several international tournaments for India. He is the only individual to have ever scored a grand double, which means that he has won both in the time and the points based formats of these games. Vishwanathan Anand is the current grand master in Chess, and is one of the best stars in the field of Chess. He has won several international accolades over several years now. And everyone knows that India is the world number one in T20 and ODI cricket. Our rankings have only wavered very slightly over the past 10 years; else we have been showing a consistent performance in these fields. Karthikeyan is one of the world’s best and hottest F1 racers, who has wowed the world with his stellar performances. Even in the field of Golf, India has some of the world’s best players.
Thus, in the areas that require strategic thinking in addition to physical prowess, India leads the world. The availability of fertile lands and fantastic weather in the nation enables India to develop these games even further. There are so many unexplored and undeveloped parts of the country which could be converted into race tracks or gold courses. Thus, even with India’s natural gifts, there is a lot of potential for the country to excel in sports. People who judge the country’s sports standards by the Olympics must not forget that if all of the aforementioned were to be Included, India would have been catapulted to being among the top 30 nations which excel in sports.
It’s high time that we take a little bit longer to introspect. All we need to show is a little more enthusiasm and stop being cynical. India is already famous for having some of the most intelligent people in the world. If we show a little more interest in various kinds of sports, surely the people who are involved in organising such events will be encouraged to invest more into this field. We can then even beat Australia, and become a superpower in various kinds of sports.
By: Anindita Chatterjee
Tags: Billiards, Chess, Cricket, Formula One, India, Indian Sports, Snooker, Sports, Sports India
