SPORTS IN INDIA

India can never boast of being a sports nation. The only sport, where India has excelled to some extent is cricket. However, only a handful of nations play this game at the highest level. The glory in cricket has been a recent phenomenon. The world cup victory on 1983 was an aberration rather than a global recognition of supremacy.  I have some nightmarish memory of cricket during my childhood when India was a habitual loser. A chance victory against Australia in 1959 at Green Park, Kanpur threw the country in a dizzy, triggering nation wise celebrations. Apart from this brief moment of glory it was a dismal record all throughout. West Indies came to India in 1958 and won a five test series 5-0. India was in England in 1959 and returned after suffering the same humiliation. In 1962, it was a tour to West Indies and the team returned with identical result with a badly battered captain whose skull was broken by a deadly delivery off Charlie Griffith. There were of course occasional flashes of excellence, however short-lived. In a 1961-62 home series, India registered a 2-0 victory against a depleted England team led by Ted Dexter.

 

Though the Charlie Griffith episode ended the career of Nari Contractor, the vice-captain, a young nawab barely 21, stepped in to lead the team. He managed to instill some confidence among the players and a hunger for victory. There was indeed some improvement but the team was far from being the world’s best. Then, at the beginning of the current millennium, a temperamental young man, famed as the “Prince of Calcutta”, came into the forefront. Within a decade, India was accepted globally as the world’s best in all forms of the game.

Hockey is another sport where India really excelled before the sixties. The downfall started in 1960, when India lost the Olympic gold for the first time at the Rome games. It was regained at 1964 in Tokyo. The once invincible team settled for bronze in 1968 and 1972 at Mexico and Munich. Four years later, India drew a blank in Montreal. Fortune smiled again at 1980 Moscow Olympics, when the games were boycotted by USA and other countries including Pakistan to protest against Soviet role in Afghanistan. Sans powerful competitors, India won the hockey gold. Since then, India never even reached the semi-finals of the games. The most humiliating experience was the failure to qualify at 2008 Beijing Olympics.

During the late 80’s, my two children, in their pre-teens, developed a keen interest in tennis. With two tennis fans on my side, I gained control of the coveted TV remote during the grand slam tournaments. My kids eulogised Boris Becker. I was past the age of hero worship after the Bjorn Borg era but decided to side with the younger generation. I miss those days of excitement and fun. After one of the many victories of Boris, my kids asked me at the dinner table who the best was during my time. Well it was Rod laver, I responded without hesitation, as this legend was considered the all-time best till then. The next question was obviously whether I was his ardent supporter. The answer was no; we the entire populace of India supported the home-grown hero, our very own Ramanathan Krishnan. It was a revelation to the younger lot that there was once an Indian who was No. 4 seed, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon and one of the topmost tennis stars of those days. Vijay Amritraj also created waves at one stage having reached the quarterfinals of the same tournament. India’s performance at present is restricted to doubles matches with Leader Paes, Mahesh Bhupati and Rohan Bopanna having established themselves among the top twenty. Sania Mirza, the golden girl, the darling of the nation, showed a lot of potential when she was No. 27 in WTP single ranking in 2007; the highest ever by any Indian woman. She has since been excelling in doubles only like her male colleagues. Leander, Mahesh and Sania won the grand slam double trophies on more than one occasions. Sondev Devvarman is another young tennis talent the fans have been watching eagerly.

After the euphoria around Sania subsided a bit, another Hyderabadi girl with a similar sounding name entered the fray with a lighter racket. Saina Nehwal soon became the youth icon having established herself as one of the top badminton stars of the world. India’s performance in this game has been patchy but Prakash Padukone and Gopichand had reached the peak with victories at various international tournaments.

Soccer (or football) is undoubtedly the most popular game in the world. The last soccer world cup final had over 700 million TV viewers. The game is extremely popular in India as well despite the national team’s dismal record. Indian soccer team’s finest moment came in 1962 when the team became the Asian Games champion at Jakarta. Currently, India’s FIFA ranking is 168 (Sept 12).

One of the major achievements recently was a tally of six medals at London Olympics 2012. Indian sportsmen appear to have discovered new skills in uncharted areas. Suddenly, our medal haul is enhanced with excellence in shooting, archery and boxing. Wrestlers and Weightlifters are also rediscovering themselves. However, these sports are not very popular with the masses and finding financiers to sponsor these games is bit difficult.

It is normally believed that economic prosperity help masses to focus on sports and other recreational activities. As India’s economy is growing, it is expected its sports excellence will also reach new heights.

6 August 2012