OLYMPICS - LONDON -2012 - LESSONS FOR INDIA - 10 STEPS INDIA MUST TAKE TO EXCEL OVER CHINA & USA IN NEXT OLYMPICS - CONGRATS TO ALL WINNERS

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 55^th 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
Total	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 : belongs to Jat family; comes from the village Baprola in South West Delhi. His father Diwan Singh was a DTC bus driver and mother Kamla Devi a housewife. His parents other family members are said to be his biggest support and encouragement in his wrestling practices.

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 errors in the details may kindly be excused and pointed out to me for correction.

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