Well done, India

There has been widespread joy amongst Indians on winning seven medals at the Tokyo Olympics. There has also been bitter disappointment, when the Indian participants lost medals by whiskers as in the bronze medal game of women’s hockey and golf. The joys and the pains were palpable in the country.

This is the first time, that I have seen the country involved minute-to-minute in the progress of Indian Olympic participants. When the Indian women’s hockey team lost to the British team in the bronze medal game, the players sank to their knees and wept. The hearts of all Indian TV viewers reached out to them.

This new mass involvement of the Indians with the Olympics is heartening, for it will encourage more Indian youngsters to train for sports and win medals for themselves and the country. The ample rewarding of the medal winners by various governments and private institutions will also motivate more youngsters.

For instance, the Indian Gold Medal winner, Neeraj Chopra, in the javelin throw, has already been awarded about US$2 million, in the first 36 hours of his victory, even before he has returned to India.

The winning of a solitary gold medal by an Indian, led to widespread celebration across the country. India was desperately starved for a gold medal. Neeraj Chopra earned it and became a national hero, within a few seconds.

For a country with a population of 1.3 billion, seven medals are really very scant. Hopefully, governments will allocate more funds to training institutions, spend on the best coaches and provide holistic training to the players. The training institutions should have comfortable residential facilities for the training players. Youngsters should be encouraged to pursue sports as a profession, not merely a pastime or a hobby.

Sports should become a means of livelihood in a country like India and other developing countries with massive unemployment. For this, sports should be recognised an industry by itself.

Rajendra Aneja
Mumbai, India