Virat Kohli’s record-setting century and Team India’s comprehensive victory over hosts and arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy tournament, virtually catapulting them into the semi-finals, no doubt lifted the spirits of sports lovers in the country and abroad, but the fact is cricket is no longer the sole flagbearer of national pride in the sporting firmament.
While India continues to be a cricket-crazy nation, it has made great strides in other disciplines as well, such as men’s and women’s hockey, badminton, tennis, athletics, shooting and even football. The cash-rich Indian Super League is attracting footballers from around the world. Fans of the English Premier League are now tuning into desi football heroes in the ISL. Cricket used to be the sole beneficiary of corporate largesse, but now more and more companies are sponsoring sportspersons in various fields.
Chess is the next big thing in India, as a slew of young prodigies are proving their mettle in the cerebral sport. Vishy Anand used to be the torchbearer of India’s chess ambitions, but now there are a host of others, such as D. Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujarathi, Koneru Humpy, Tania Sachdev, etc. When the hockey team secured a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics and Neeraj Chopra bagged gold in Tokyo, national pride was at its peak.
Chopra lost out to his Pakistani compatriot Arshad Nadeem in Paris, but the camaraderie between the two subcontinental athletes was heartwarming indeed.
However, unlike India, Pakistan has not been able to channelise its sporting energy positively. Too much infighting and the dead weight of officialdom have affected Pakistan’s sportspeople, who are not able to rise to their true potential.
Though India has a lot more to achieve in the sporting field when compared to its Asian neighbour China, some small steps have been taken to identify talent at an early age. However, training schemes have to be comprehensive, and adequate infrastructure has to be provided for young sportspeople.
The unfortunate row over the Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of harassing women wrestlers, is yet to be fully resolved. Sporting federations are often helmed by people past their prime who cling on to their posts by hook or by crook. There has to be a suitable purge of such institutions.
India, not unlike Pakistan, is divided along religious, ethnic and linguistic lines, but a pan-national identity has emerged that subsumes all such fault lines. North or south, east or west, sport is the great unifying factor in India. When the National Anthem plays for our athletes in sporting events worldwide, there is a great sense of pride and achievement. Nothing lifts the spirits more than sport.
