With the Indian cricket team going out of the world cup without a fight and Jeev Milkha Singh struggling for form I had thought it would take a long while before I wrote about an Indian Champion.
It is my mistake that I missed writing on Suranjoy Singh who gave India its first Asian championship gold in 15 years. Thokchom Nanao Singh and Jai Bhagwan who got silver medals and Jitender Kumar (54kg) Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg) who won bronze are the unsung heroes in the Indian Sporting arena.
The country’s boxers rounded off a 27-year best performance in the elite event in Zhuhai, China ending the campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals. The team was placed third in the overall standings behind host China and Uzbekistan.
Coming back to my search for an Indian Champion. Saina Nehwal has finally delivered. She was always at the rim of the steep incline to being called the best and she has shown tremendous character in working hard to finally reach there. Victory in Indonesia Super Series badminton tournament is the first ever Super Series win by an Indian and she can now proudly step on the pedestal that was till now reserved for our All England heroes Prakash Padukone and Gopichand.The BAI, a very poor cousin of the BCCI, has announced an award of Rs. 2,00,000/= peanuts when compared to what BCCI distributed to schools in South Africa (Rs. 5,30,00,000/=) during the IPL. Does this raise a question about loyalty to the nation?
But it has always been like this in India. A politician can donate a gold crown with diamond studs worth Rs. 4,00,00,000/= at Tirupati Balaji when he just has to step out of his house and see people who do not get a single meal every day.
The focus is wrong and till we get it right we shall continue to be a nation without many heroes.
Regards,
Manoj
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