Namashkar and welcome back to my blog. It has been quite a while since I blogged. For most Sports Enthusiasts, August 2016 must have proved to be quite an exciting time of the year with the Summer Olympics being held at Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil from the 5th of August to the 21st of August. In this post, I focus on the Indian performance at the Summer Olympics 2016.
The Indian Olympic Association sent the country's largest ever delegation with a total of 117 athletes, even greater than the 83 athletes sent in 2012 With quite a competent contingent sent to the Olympics, hopes were high for a good result at the end of these Olympics.
The Medal Tally, as we all know now, has 2 medals for India inclusive of a Silver Medal in Badminton and a Bronze Medal in Wrestling. The winners, of course, who are now celebrities in their own right in India are P.V. Sindhu and Sakshi Malik. Congratulations to the Indian Medalists.
Truly, there was some spectacular action in Badminton resulting in a massive epic win for India through P.V.Sindhu. Sakshi Malik saved the day for India in Wrestling which had been subject to maximum controversies in the build-up to the 2016 Olympics in India. There were some competitive performances which sadly did not translate into medals. Dipa Karmakar for example, did a good job in Gymnastics, but sadly did not win a medal. However, Dipa became the first Indian Gymnast to qualify for the Olympics in three-apparatus and all-round events.The historic athlete is now targeting a medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Wishing her all the best in her endeavor.
I have watched the Olympic Events this year and feel that Indian athletes are talented, but they need to be adequately trained to excel at the Olympics and win medals. I think that the regulating body for Sports in India needs to invest in proper infrastructure and coaching facilities for all athletes in various fields of sports and games so that athletes not only qualify and compete in their events, but also emerge comprehensive winners in their events thereby resulting in a better medal tally for India by the end of the Olympic Games.
It is good to reward the medalists at the end of the games through various kinds of incentives, but I feel some investment must also be made in the training sector to create more medalists and there is no better time to do this than the present. This needs to be done now. Athletes are working, sacrificing and pouring their life into the sports. All that is required is support in the form of good training facilities and coaching from the regulating body of Sports in India. If adequate facilities are not available in India, then arrangements need to be made to send the athletes to countries abroad where they can train under the right conditions with the right kind of coaches and trainers to emerge winners in their respective sports in big sports events like the Summer Olympics.
Sports needs to be encouraged alongside academics in India.
Like there is Corporate Social Responsibility. may be, it would be good to have Corporate Sports Responsibility, wherein big corporate companies could contribute a small percentage towards betterment of Sports Infrastructure and Coaching facilities in India.
India is the largest and probably the most diverse democracy in the world. Not to forget the fact, that we are also the second most populous country in the world. Therefore, I think that it is high time that we seriously plan and build our future in Sports too ! What do you think ? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
References:
1. http://flaglane.com/download/indian-flag/
2. http://flaglane.com/download/indian-flag/indian-flag-large.jpg
3. http://thediplomat.com/2016/08/india-at-the-2016-summer-olympics-what-to-watch-for/
4. http://thediplomat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/thediplomat_2016-08-01_02-32-47-386x217.jpg
5. http://www.firstpost.com/sports/india-at-rio-olympics-2016-comprehensive-look-at-all-athletes-results-and-performances-2970116.html
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_at_the_2016_Summer_Olympics
