We all know that it is tough challenge for players to win a medal in Olympics especially for Indian sportsmen who lack basic amenities. Despite this the Indian players strives wholeheartedly that their dreams may come true and they can make the nation proud. Many participants fail to win medal despite come very close to achieving their goals. It frustrates everyone including the players, but only on this basis we cannot put question marks on their spirit of winning. We cannot say that players are participating in Olympics only for the sake of garnering publicity.
However, there are several personalities in this country who probably do not understand this fact. In the guise of freedom of expression, their aim is only to gain some media headlines. Shobhaa De is a well-known controversial figure in this category. She believes that Indian players participate in Olympics only to take selfies not for winning a medal. According to her, Indian participants are indulging in ‘Time pass’. Such comments on players are deplorable. Perhaps, for her Olympic is still same as ‘Gully Cricket’ where no one is less than Sachin Tendulkar or Bradman and where hitting fours and sixes is just a child’s play. In the same way, probably she too had expected that Indian players will win medal in every event. But she is not aware of the fact that it is a difficult task to qualify for Olympics. There are several games and events in which our sportsman can’t even think about qualifying. For example, after 120 years we have successfully qualified for participating in gymnastics this year. Therefore it is not sure that we definitely will win a medal in this game. For now, we have represented our country in this game is a matter of pride for us. Hopefully things could improve in future and our sportsmen will win more medals. So, personalities like Shobhaa De must understand that if they cannot give their best wishes to players then atleast refrain from passing comments against them.
Vivekanand V. Vimarya
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
