OLYMPICS - LONDON -2012
LESSONS FOR INDIA
CONGRATS
INDIA!
Congrats
to All those INDIAN winners at the London Olympics; Congrats to all those who
came so tantalizingly close to winning a Olympic Medal; and finally, Congrats also
to those who competed in the Olympics from India with the true Olympic spirit.
At
the moment, the following is India’s FINAL TALLY at the London Olympics. India
stands at the 55th spot in the List of Nations with Medals. Of
course, we have considerably bettered all of our earlier Olympic records – none
of which can however be considered any thing great.
Sport Gold Silver Bronze Total
Badminton 0 0 1 1
Boxing 0 0 1 1
Shooting 0 1 1 2
Wrestling 0 1 1 2
0 2 4 6
And,
who are our winners? From the INFORMATION, I could assemble, – the details of
the winners are as below :-
1.
SAINA NEHWAL –
from Hyderabad (AP) ; born on 17/ 03/ 1990, aged 22 (Female); has won the BRONZE MEDAL in
Badminton Women’s singles. She has competed already in many international
events with many successes; Her coach is Pullela Gopichand. Her Parents are
stated to be state Badminton champions earlier in Haryana. She has already
received many sporting awards like Arjuna award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award
and - Padmasri
2.
CHUNGNEIJANG MERY KOM HMANGTE (Nick Name :
Mary Kom); From CHURACHANDPUR (in Manipur) ;Born on 01/03/1982; aged 29
(Female) – She has won the BRONZE
MEDAL in Boxing Women’s Fly (51 kg) - Has twin
sons; Athlete, Police Officer, educated at Manipur University, speaks Hindi and
English. Her coach is Anoop Kumar from 2000. It is said, she originally trained
in Athletics, competing in the 400 m sprint and Javelin.
3.
GAGAN NARANG :
From Madras India; Born on 06/05/1983 – age 29; - Has won BRONZE MEDAL in
Men’s 10m Air Rifle shooting; He serves in the Army; speaks Hindi and English;
His coach is Sunny Thomas, His most memorable achievement is winning 4 Golds in
rifle events at the 2010 Common wealth Games in India (Delhi). Awarded Padmasri
in 2011 and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. He has participated in Beijing 2008
and Athens 2004 Olympics.
4.
VIJAY KUMAR :
From Harsour India ;Born on 19/08/1985 ; aged 26 (Male) ; Has won the SILVER MEDAL in
Shooting Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men’s 10m Air Pistol; Serves in the Army.
Speaks Hindi and English. Coach – Smirnov Pavel and Sunny Thomas.
5.
SUSHIL KUMAR :
Born on 26/05/1983 – delhi ), aged 29, has won SILVER MEDAL
in Wrestling; 66 KG Free style; It is said – he works in the Railways and
speaks Hindi. He has trained under Yashvir Singh
6.
YOGESHWAR DUTT :
From Delhi; Born on 02/11/1982 ; aged 29; Has won the BRONZE MEDAL in
wrestling; Men’s 60 KG Freestyle. works as Police Officer; speaks Hindi and
English.
I have watched the WINNING
PERFORMANCES of all these winners on TV. Each of them is Fascinating. Each of
them displayed the capability of winning over their winner opponents.
There were a Few other Medal Hopefuls
too. Like in Archery. Like in Boxing and wrestling.
Of course, the debacle in Hockey is
perhaps the worst Indian Performance.
Most of our winners have come from
very Humble Back Grounds. Wikipedia gives these details :
Sushil Kumar :
Mary
Kom : is a five-time World Boxing champion, and the
only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world
championships.She is the only Indian woman boxer to have qualified for the 2012
Summer Olympics, competing in the flyweight (51kg) category and winning the
bronze medal. She has also been ranked as No. 4 AIBA World Women's Ranking
Flyweight category. Mary was born in Kangathei, Manipur. Her parents, Mangte
Tonpa Kom and Mangte Akham Kom, worked in jhum fields.
Yogeshwar
Dutt - comes from Bhainswal village
of Sonipat district, Haryana from a Brahmin family and his parents were
teachers. He started wrestling from a very young age of 8 years. His
inspiration was Balraj Pehlwan who was from his native village and he was
trained under the guidance of coach Ramphal. Yogeshwar Dutt won the Gold Medal
in the 2003 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.
Vijay
Kumar- hails from Barsar village of Hamirpur district
of Himachal Pradesh and is presently a serving subedar in the Dogra Regiment
(16th Battalion) Indian Army. Vijay Kumar is currently supported by the Olympic
Gold Quest initiative. He has been posted at Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) Mhow
since 2003 where he is being coached by the Russian Pavel Smirnov.
GAGAN
NARANG - was born in Chennai; his
ancestors belonged to Samalkha in Panipat district in Haryana. His grandfather
then moved from Panipat to Hyderabad. His parents are Bhimsen Narang and
Amarjit. Though Gagan Narang was born in Chennai, he was raised in Hyderabad.
He touched the gun for the first time at his age of six for shooting down
balloons at Chennai Marina Beach carnival. His prowess at shooting was well
brought out at that age which he sharpened later.
SAINA
NEHWAL - was born in a Jat family to
Dr. Harvir Singh Nehwal and Usha Nehwal in the city of Hisar, Haryana and
completed first few years of her schooling from Campus School. He later shifted
to Hyderabad & so Saina spent her growing years in Hyderabad, India. Her
foray into the world of badminton was influenced by her father Dr. Harvir
Singh, a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and her
mother Usha Nehwal, both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana.
From the Details gathered as above - It seems, Haryana contributed a major share
of the Medals tally. Even before Olympics, it was known that Haryana Government
was more active in promoting SPORTS. And people had taken to sports like
wrestling with great Interest in Haryana. It is Possible and I do hope, Haryana
Government plans for a thing like that,– that, in next Plympics, Haryana bags
Gold, Silver and Bronze in many wrestling events. Other states must try to compete
and beat Haryana and the rest of the world – in true Olympic spirit.
Second Point to note is – the humblest of the
humble from India have proved that they can rise to OLYMPIC GOLD LEVEL. This has been amply proved in this Olympics - by
these medalists. Give them the encouragement. Do not divide them on caste and
religion basis. Do not tell them – that you are unfit, you have no talent..and
nonsensical stuff like that. Unite them. It is INDIA vs WORLD - in the
Olympics. Minimise ALL POLITICS in sports.
Promote ALL OLYMPIC SPORTS. Not one excluded. Every state must produce 10
champions minimum. That is what, US is doing. That is what, China is doing. This
time, that is what Britain has done. Why can’t India? It needs, strong,
conscious, special, consistent, continuous Planning and proper execution.
Our Emphasis on CRICKET must come down. This is
my strong feeling. It produces crores of IDLE watchers – for 11 players. We are
becoming a Diabetic, Hypertensive nation with all sorts of Life style diseases,
even in those people who have no great Life style to boast. We must get rid of
this lazy, sombre, illness producing life styles – and become active players of
many sports and games – adopting the olympic theme of "Faster, Higher, Stronger". I am a fan of cricket myself – but I feel, we
must be playing a whole lot of things, in addition to Cricket – not just
watching some one else play this Game all day long.
So, how do we go about Planning for Next
Olympics? Here are my humble suggestions :
1. Each state
must adopt a minimum of 10 to 15 OLYMPIC
SPORTS to excel in. All states of
India together must cover at least 80 percent of all Olympic sports. This is
what the Central SPORTS MINISTRY
must co-ordinate and arrange.
2. Every state must provide latest equipment to at least one Major school in each district –
and reasonably GOOD EQUIPMENT to all
Government schools on these sports. A javelin , shot put , foot ball, volley ball, badminton
equipment etc costs very less. A good swimming pool in each district is
essential. Gymnastics training must get introduced in each school. Such Ideas
can be implemented very easily in all states.
3. Every
day, a one hour sports period is a
must. 5 hours studies plus a one hour sports period must be compulsory. Reduce
undue emphasis on Text Book study & Marks. Students must compulsorily Play
whatever they like – and whatever they can. The OLYMPIC MOTTO must be displayed in all CLASS ROOMS in
India.
4. Once in a month – High quality VIDEOS of the performances of the BEST SPORTS PERSONS
OF INDIA and the world must be shown to all students for one or two hours.
5. The Best
sports persons in each district must automatically
be employed as PHYSICAL EDUCATION
teachers – after some training in training Methods. Each school must
compulsorily have one or two such physical education teachers.
6. Where Girl students are also in Good numbers – a Women Physical education Teacher must also
be employed in the school.
7. These must be COMPULSORY - for both Private, aided and Government schools,
including Minority institutions. No exclusions in this must be made for
anybody.
8. The state level champions must train well
themselves and also serve as state level
coaches. Let their sport be their Life Breath. Ditto, for National level
champions.
9. For our National Champions, let us also get the
best international coaches for the time they feel they need them.
10. Every state
must build International level Play grounds – for each of the sports chosen
by them. There should be good Play grounds in each district. Each village
panchayat and town panchayat must immediately set apart available Government Land Sufficiently for a SPORTS COMPLEX –
for their village or town. These can then be developed progressively. If
not done now – there will be no such land available later. LAND GRABBING is one
of the worst diseases in India today.
11. I have listed 10 suggestions. I do hope these
suggestions attract the attention of all sport lovers and the Governments of
India and of all States. I do hope, they will receive it in the RIGHT SPIRIT.
The current SPORTS MINISTER has displayed sufficient ENERGY and ENTHUSIASM about sports in the past, and I do fervently
hope, he will further strive to ensure India’s meteoric rise in all OLYMPIC
SPORTS.
With
Congratulations to all WINNERS and Olympic Participants
Yours
(V.VIJAYAMOHAN)
Dt 13-Aug-2012.
PS :
Any small errors in the details may kindly be excused and pointed out to me for
correction.
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