Congratulations Major Rathore! You have shown tremendous mental discipline and perseverance to clinch a silver at the Olympics! A heroics many Indians dreamt of! Hats off to you. It's something that every Indian should not only be proud of, but learn from. We do not expect that every participant will win a medal at the Olympics, but a decent fight from our participants is what makes us proud. Usha has correctly said that participating in an Olympics must not be the end of road for an Indian sportsperson. She is one of the best in the business and her suggestions and advices should be spared a thought or two by our administrative officers and sports ministry. Major Rathore's success can inspire us to no limits, true, but if inspiration alone could win a medal at the Olympics, we would have bagged a dozen gold evry four year! Therefore, the sports ministry, the administrative officials, the corporates and the sport enthusiasts must not feel that only showering praise and money on Major Rathore is the best way to celebrate his success. He must feel really happy if his success can inspire us to take substantial initiatives so that the promising Rathores can blossom properly.
"Rathore not only won the silver medal, but also removed the inferiority complex that every Indian was suffering from till now. Now that I go to Athens in a couple of days, I will walk around with my head high. India, too, have a place in the medals tally"
Yeah, only if you can ignore the fact that the population of our country is more than a million.
I feel like shooting someone. Usha is, as always, forthright and has hit upon the right issues regarding Indian olympic peformances. With all due respect to Major Rathore's achievement, it is fair to say that there is absolutely no reason why we should be celebrating anything. We may win at the most two medals by the time the games come to an end (I write this with the knowledge of Paes-Bhupathi's defeat). We are the second most populous nation and represent a sixth of humanity. And all we can win are two medals or, more likely, just one? I would not like to go into the usual cliched reasons like genes, infrastructure, sponsorship etc. The difference between Paes-Bhupathi and others was pin-pointed by Usha - lack of pride and contentment with being small. When I read a statement from Reena Kumari of the women's archery squad, I felt like wringing her neck. She'd given up before she started. Sadly, she's just one of many. People who have no aspirations have no place in the olympic squad. I would rather have a squad of ten committed athletes than a bunch of a hundred losers. The inferiority complexes are not easy to explain away these days, when are achieving much as a nation.
Can also be seen from the Sydney 2000 Olympics. When India was playing a league game against Poland, then India was leading after a 53rd minute goal. When two minutes remained, Dhanraj Pillay and co. got so excited that they started to entertain the crowd. And in the meantime Poland slammed the equalizer which shunted india out of semifinals. What would be call this? The same thing happened yesterday in India Vs Australia, these same players were so happy that they have drawn Aussies that they started to feel on the top of the cloud and there comes the equalizer in the last minute.
Such similarity such mentality.They need rest for the next olympics.
I fully agree with the words of praise showered by P.T. Usha about Rathore. It is very hard to attain the top place in the world and more difficult to retain and improve upon it. Those who traverse the difficult path putting all hardships aside and manage to reach the top are admired by the world. This applies to all the fields such as education and economics. Why are we looked upon with respect in the field of IT? It is our amazing capacity to deliver good result in the midst if stiff international competition. We have to excel in many more fields to put our stamp as a developed country in few decades. It is an enduring but achievable task before us. Major Rathore is one such leading star. Congratulations.
Congratulations !! for Mr. Rathore on behalf of every Indian but Iam very sad to hear that he has run from pillar to post to make arrangements for his trip to Athens. I really don't know why the media, corporates etc., discriminate other sports except Cricket eventhough the indian cricket team is not performing at all. I feel that the main reason is the people of India who look cricket as the only sport in India & make the cricketers as national pride. Now is the time the people of India change their attitude & show their respect & recognise other sports too otherwise no other sports will improve. By giving more & more publicity to the cricketers they are demotivating them instead of motivating them. Let atleast nowonwards shower a part of the respect is shown to other sporting events at India, so that they also can imrpove in future.
Congratulations !! for Mr. Rathore on behalf of every Indian but Iam very sad to hear that he has run from pillar to post to make arrangements for his trip to Athens. I really don't know why the media, corporates etc., discriminate other sports except Cricket eventhough the indian cricket team is not performing at all. I feel that the main reason is the people of India who look cricket as the only sport in India & make the cricketers as national pride. Now is the time the people of India change their attitude & show their respect & recognise other sports too otherwise no other sports will improve at all. By giving more & more publicity to the cricketers they are demotivating them instead of motivating them. Let atleast a part of the respect is shown to other sporting events at India, so that they also can improve in future.
Indian Media and people ain't got no idea how to root for an underdog. They only knows how to worship a Hero, or a self proclaimed hero. Take a look at Sachin tendulkar, Boy chokes in big games and still the whole nation, media just can't stop talkin about him. Just like that, before this Olympics started, all the talk was about how the Hockey team can be great, how good is Malleswari, how good is Anju George etc. Never ever no one tried to write about these otherfolks. And just like in Cricket, you don't give the new comers a chance. When they win something, Oh my god, Congratulation posts are flooding the internet, India is Great, India is proud of you bla blablaalh blah.....Ministers who ain't give a rat about the people and no basic education to plan for the betterment of India in sports is rushing to declare free everything!.......When will Indians start being Creative?
P T Usha has a wonderful clarity of thought on the subject of sport and nurturing sport. Why cannot we make her the next sports minister instead of some Tom, Dick and Harry.
I heartily agree with all you said.We never recognise a sportsperson until he/she earns the 'impossible' or dreamed and has to trudge alone with nobody's support. If we recognize the true potential and nurture it in a sportsperson by giving him all kinds of support we will see more medals for our country.
