Umpteen expectations were in the hearts of the citizens all over the
nation as the 83 athletes marched on to take part in 2012 Summer Olympics in
London. In the course of the sports in full swing, the Indian media highlighted
high hopes in the Indian participants to earn some glory for the nation in the
Internationally Well acclaimed Olympic Games and of course I was one of those
million men and women who were the fans of those in the field expecting my
country men and women to win at least a few medals and bring laurels to the
nation. With my eyes wide open as I saw
my own country men and women losing in the consecutive events, I felt like
losing my patriotic spirit but deep within there was a big hesitation to do so.
I could hear my colleagues stating that the Indians as usual will come out with
one or two medals and they also sternly asked me not to hope too much from this
games. Yet I had a hope that the Indian players will come out with flying
colours towards the end of the games. All my expectations came to an end with
just six medals including 2 silver and 4 bronze without a gold standing at 55th
position in the medal tally. Though this has been the best performance of the
nation in terms of number of medals at a single Olympic Games, I was tempted to
question ‘why only six medals from my country when my adjacent country, China
could come out with 88 medals standing second in the total medal tally. The only
answer I could have was the supportive spirit of their government and I cannot
completely deny of my country’s support. Yet I have to accept the fact that in
my country the sportive spirit is very less and the government needs to take
extra efforts to encourage the young men and women to perform well in the
international level especially in an event like Olympics. Though there was
sadness spread all over my heart, the “never- give up” sportive spirit of my
country men and women in the field especially of the medalists soothed my
saddened soul. Of all the medalists, I here would like to focus on that 22 year
old young girl who was sent with much hope for a medal. For a young man like me
who was much interested in Cricket so far, this young girl revealed that there
are also other games like Badminton
through which the nation can be brought to limelight in the
international scenario. It was while she was playing at the London Olympics I
was attracted towards T. S. Sudhir’s “An inspirational Biography: Saina
Nehwal” published by Nimby Books that spoke enough of this young Badminton
queen. My focus here is not without reason, there are many reasons to specify
this young champion who is an inspiration to the young men and women of this
nation, one of them being a “homegrown champion” as T. S. Sudhir puts it at the
back cover of his book, another reason being an Indian Khel Ratna
badminton player to have
achieved these many prestigious achievements to her credit and thus bringing
pride to the nation at the international level at this very young age and yet
another reason being the one who fulfilled my expectation and the expectations
of many more in this country. “With title wins at the Thailand Open and
Indonesia Open, five weeks before the Olympics, Saina is one of India’s
strongest medal prospects” wrote T. S. Sudhir in the prologue of his book of
his expectations and of course Saina did prove her mettle with her bronze medal
adding one more feather to our nation’s pride along with other medalists. “Saina
Nehwal’s phenomenal success as an international badminton player is one of the
most inspiring stories of Indian sports. She comes from a middle class family
and has been groomed into a world class player in the face of the awesome
odds,” thus writes T. S. Sudhir elucidating the greatness of this badminton
queen. Saina at this very young age has brought many laurels to the nation and
the secret is her commitment and the passion that she has for the sports and
her ‘never-give up’ attitude to breach the charming Chinese Wall. Just a few
days back we gloriously commemorated the Independence Day of our country and on
that day there were many things to be proud of; one predominant thing being the
Olympic medals and I personally felt how happier and more proud we could have
been if many of our men and women had to win the medals at the Olympics. Of
course winning medals at the Olympics is not the only determinant to weigh our
nation’s glory, yet we must remember that it is one of the important events
through which we can make our nation proud of at the international level. In a
country like that of ours where majority of the total population worship
cricket as the only sports, it is the duty of the government and the
authorities concerned with sports to promote many more sports like badminton
which will eventually lead us to prove our mettle at the international level. “If
you ask me if is there a better life than this, I would say no. I say you have
to be blessed to play this game. But I also say that you have got to be
prepared to make many sacrifices. Anyone who aspires to be another Saina Nehwal
has to be ready to make Badminton her life” writes T. S. Sudhir stating the
words of Pullela Gopichand, Saina’s coach. We all dream of developing our
nation and that must undoubtedly happen in the field of sports. To make India shine
internationally, we need, not only one Saina rather many more Sainas; for this
we certainly need many more Gopichands who can take our men and women to the
international arenas. May this be a chance for the citizens of this nation not
to worship cricket as the only sports rather to encourage other sports like
badminton as well. As I ‘salute’ Saina, I ask not, “why only Saina? Rather “why
not many more Sainas?” Saina has ahead of her four All- Englands and four World
Championships and at least half a dozen Super Series championships every single
year and as I salute this young Indian badminton queen, I wish and hope that
many more young men and women become true champions in their life and add pride
to the nation.
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