So what? Nothing like winning in cricket or tennis or golf. As Rajeev Iyer said we could'nt care less. We have more imporatnt things to worry about. So dont feel so bad.
The majority of Indians do not care. The ones that do, can only talk about it - they do not have the ability to do anything about it, and they are in a miniscule minority who seem to think that it is important that we do well in sports.
Don't blame cricket. Indians love cricket and our team is borderline good - meaning they win just enough times to keep the fans interested. So Indians watch TV intently when Indian cricket is on display, generating the good monies involved that all in cricket benefit from.
Whereas for other sports, Indians simply do not care. So write your article Rajeevji, and join the league of the angst-ridden sport lover - many have come before you, many will come after you. But Indian sport will never do well at the Olympics,
Why such a pessimistic article like this on the eve of the greatest event in the world? I agree, our situation is terrible compared to the rest of the world, but surely its not worth deriding our entire olympic contingent on the eve of their departure!
I think its very pessimistic to predict at best 1 bronze medal. Rajyavardhan Rathore got a silver last time-no reason he cant equal or better that! Also our shooting squad is amongst the best in the world in almost all the shooting disciplines and I think its fair to atleast be optimistic about 2-3 medals from shooting alone.
In archery too we are supposed to have one of the strongest teams and our archers came very close to a medal last time around - again at the very least its worth being optimistic about.
In table tennis Sharath Kamal is up there amongst the best in the world and he has every chance of bringing home a medal - on his day atleast.
In boxing too I heard we have a great boxer from Jharkhand - again perhaps an outside chance at a medal.
On the whole I, being an eternal optimist, believe that we have a chance at squeezing out bronzes at a fair number of events. We have had 1 medal each in the last 3 olympics, and I am quite sure we will atleast better that - anywhere between 2-5 would be my guess.
I think the problems are aplenty. In weightlifting we used to be one of the powerhouses but now the sport itself is in tatters. Our national sport of hockey - shame that we did not qualify. The blame for both of
RE:Why so pessimistic?
by ABC on Aug 04, 2008 08:34 PM Permalink
these lie with the bureuacracy and administration.
I think the biggest problem Indian sportsmen face in the lack of killer instinct like was mentioned - basically choking when the stakes our high. Our cricket team ofcourse is a case in point. We are serious medal contenders in atleast 10 events and yet we predict 1 medal since we have no confidence in our athletes' abilities to shine when in the spotlight.
The biggest embarrasment is however athletics. There are so many medals to be won and we don't have a single athlete with a real chance at a medal. I was however outraged at your not-so-oblique reference to Anju Bobby George. Remember that being 7th best out of 7 billion people means your pretty damn good and respect her for that. She is the only athelete who can possibly make it to the finals and the only one who has a chance, bleak perhaps but a chance none the less in athletics. I think she deserves better.
My biggest disappointment however is in Tennis. We should have easily won or atleast placed in the mens doubles in the last 2 olympics (we were sadly 4th last time). Thanks to the personal ego issues in the great lee-hesh combine, even an eternal optimist like me has to predict an early exit. We actually have fairly good tennis talent but due to these side issues, the talent is wasted.
On the whole, I don't think its worth taking such an overly pessimistic view - think happy thoughts, the greatest event in the world is here! We do have athletes who on their day ar
RE:RE:Why so pessimistic?
by ABC on Aug 04, 2008 08:35 PM Permalink
e capable of pulling off a medal so lets cheer up and pray for them. And the situation is getting better, corporates too are feeling the pinch of their country not performing at any sport at all in the world and are chipping in, many new initiatives have come up...and hopefully will bear fruit atleast by the next olympics or the one after that.
RE:RE:RE:Why so pessimistic?
by ABC on Aug 04, 2008 08:36 PM Permalink
e capable of pulling off a medal so lets cheer up and pray for them. And the situation is getting better, corporates too are feeling the pinch of their country not performing at any sport at all in the world and are chipping in, many new initiatives have come up...and hopefully will bear fruit atleast by the next olympics or the one after that.
RE:Why so pessimistic?
by Siva Balan on Aug 05, 2008 11:11 AM Permalink
Optimism & Pessimism lies in prespective. If I compare India with world & I feel pessimistic. If I compare India with with India-1850 I may feel optimistic.
Why such a pessimistic article like this on the eve of the greatest event in the world? I agree, our situation is terrible compared to the rest of the world, but surely its not worth deriding our entire olympic contingent on the eve of their departure!
I think its very pessimistic to predict at best 1 bronze medal. Rajyavardhan Rathore got a silver last time-no reason he cant equal or better that! Also our shooting squad is amongst the best in the world in almost all the shooting disciplines and I think its fair to atleast be optimistic about 2-3 medals from shooting alone.
In archery too we are supposed to have one of the strongest teams and our archers came very close to a medal last time around - again at the very least its worth being optimistic about.
In table tennis Sharath Kamal is up there amongst the best in the world and he has every chance of bringing home a medal - on his day atleast.
In boxing too I heard we have a great boxer from Jharkhand - again perhaps an outside chance at a medal.
On the whole I, being an eternal optimist, believe that we have a chance at squeezing out bronzes at a fair number of events. We have had 1 medal each in the last 3 olympics, and I am quite sure we will atleast better that - anywhere between 2-5 would be my guess.
I think the problems are aplenty. In weightlifting we used to be one of the powerhouses but now the sport itself is in tatters. Our national sport of hockey - shame that we did not qualify. The blame for both of
RE:Why so pessimistic?
by sreenath bukkapatnam on Aug 04, 2008 11:44 PM Permalink
I believe Mr.Rajeev srinivasan should read your piece and then have a good look at what he has written.His reference to anju george is almost bordering on insult, she is the only Indian athlete to have won a medal in world championship in track and field, if she cannot better that its not her problem. the issue is that she is probably the 10th or 15th best in the world but always manages to do better than expected, and Mr.Srinivasan should aknowledge that You cannot be number one just because you want to, there is something called talent and physique(especially for an athlete)which are equally important. the atheletes who are doing better than anju are more talented , better built and get heaps of money to develop their game.If you are a british giral and you get a bronze in one championship , you are sponsored for the next 50 by the sports authorities.What did anju get for the bronze? NOTHING. So accusing her of being happy finishing 7th is pathetic.And BTW the field doesn't comprise of 8, the 8 are the FINALISTS and you have to be good enough to qualify for the olympics and then the final 8.Blaming cricket for all of indian sports' troubles is becoming fashionble.They are getting so much attention as they have now won 2 worldcups. The BBCI is game enough to market its game and gain sponsorship. If the IOC cannot do that then it is not Cricket's or BCCI's problem. In australia every kid born goes for swimming classes from an age of 6 months, how many kids in INDIA know how t
Indians should come out of the frog well called cricket and come into Ocean called Olympic s!!!!
It appears that we Indians , do not care even if India does pathetic display in Olympics decades after decades... India has in recent years shown some promise in many areas like IT,industry ,growing economy which make it a potential contender for aspiring super power by 2020,however it can not reach such goal if it has educated masses who do not care for real sports ( except politicised & insanely hyped cricket) and good proper governance as well as internal& external security which again is total mess . Indians lack in manys such areas and have to learn to think like a country and learn to take pride as an Indian which also means getting reasonable nos of medal in Olumpics and not have couldn't care less attitude towards issues realted to security and well being of country!!!!! Untill this happens we would remain a developing country in the eyes of the world with a tag of soft country!!!!!!!!!Lacing in self pride and patriotism .
This article (and so many articles about Indian performance in Olympics) is clearly off-track. It is all a RACE thing...The Indian race is not good at speed (that rules out running events), have very poor stamina (that rules out events where you have to be constantly on the run for more than an hour), lack power muscles (that rules out almost all other events). We are good at events that involve lots of tactics and not much running -like chess, golf, cricket, shooting. The reason we are not world-champs in the above mentioned events (except chess) are we lack killer-instinct. The article is right about lack of killer-instinct, but nothing else. To further my arguement, none of our neibhours of our same race have performed any better than us. Also the millions of Indians settled abroad (equivalent to population of Australia) haven't excelled in Olympics. Being in the US for a lot of years, I can say off-hand that an Indian 4th place finish is clelebrated a thousand times more in India than a gold in the US. If an athlete wins a gold medal for example in shooting in the US it will be mentioned in th 12th page of New York times as ..."also winning gold medal today was Mr.XXX." That is it. The athlete will be completely forgotten. No 1 crore land. No Khel Ratna. No ads. No nothings. The only exceptions where athletes make lot of money in the US are if they have multiple medals, or they have a really compelling story (like survining cancer) or if they post nude for Play-Boy.
RE:It is the RACE....stupid!!
by Mihir Samel on Aug 05, 2008 05:17 AM Permalink
We in India have so many martial races viz. Sikhs, Gurkhas , marathas , etc from all regions of the country . They all their glorious history of fighting & winning pitched battles against the most formidable enemies . Now you want us to believe that a RACE that is strong enough to fight & win gruesome battles does not have the fitness to compete in athletic events???? common!!!! gimme a break .Thats a defeatist mentality at its best
RE:It is the RACE....stupid!!
by san man on Aug 05, 2008 05:26 AM Permalink
those sikhs and marathas got their a--s--s ra--ped by every passing invader
RE:It is the RACE....stupid!!
by rama manorama on Aug 04, 2008 09:31 PM Permalink
I dont think its tha race... it is what we eat and drink. Start eating meat other nutritiuos food and see how it will make a difference.
RE:It is the RACE....stupid!!
by Calspadeaspade on Aug 04, 2008 09:42 PM Permalink
60% of Indians eat meat. Punjabis and Sardars are strong. Still nothing from them too.It is just a secretive succcessful steroid program. I hate to say this but it is true.
