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Planning to get married in Goa? www.weddingsetcgoa.com Making your 'dream wedding' possible ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What ails Indian Sports? Is it a curse or a mystery ? A nation in excess of 100 Crore people, fail to produce great champions, not that we lack in talent, but in the end it all boils down to the simmering residue of administration, which like our politicians lack foresight and grit determination and above all, love and passion for sports. I am sure there is no lack of talent in our country but what we lack are dedicated administrators who have passion for sports and sports only. Right from my childhood, I loved sports and followed it through what ever medium that I could lay my hands on, magazines, news papers and radio, I was fascinated by the world of sports, even though the coverage was very limited, from those days till today, Indian sports has remained stagnant, except for a few sparks here and there, like the five set quarter finals between Vijay Amritraj and Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon, The great Prakash Padukone winning the all England badminton, world conquering Mike Ferreira and Geet Sethi. Leander Paes taking the fight to Andre Agassi, or Sania Mirza, beating world No. 3 Russian Slutlana Kuznetsova, Bindra and the latest boxing stars and among them all, the only one who looks to be the most consistence, Saina Nehwal and ofcourse, the king of chess Vishwanathan Anand, apart from these, what do we have to boast about, in the international arena ? These few twinkling stars who have brought laurels to our Country, I am sure it was only their personal will and dedication, that they have come up and no credit to the administrators, as the biblical quote says "harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few," I am sure if we apply ourselves and go on a talent hunt , we will come across a lot of raw talent, they may not be the Federers, Bolts, Ronaldos or Grafs but with proper incentives and application we could be there competing with the best and in due time even surprise us with glory. First and foremost, what we lack is the structure at school levels, in schools we are after the children to only study, no matter what their mental capacity is, we sometimes even push them over the edge, with so much pressure to perform to get into professional colleges our children have to forfeit their interest in sports, so that they don't let their home people down, in most of the top sporting countries sports is a lucrative profession, where the pay is as good as any if not better, so much so, that even schools see that deserving students get scholarships, so those students who excel in sports have well regulated grades to achieve (minimum) in studies so that they can dedicate more time to sports, in India it's the opposite, only once you are finished with all your studies, the free time is dedicated to sports, so how can we excel in sports. Secondly what is the fate of our sports men and women, apart from the over paid cricketers, If a sports person of the caliber of PT Usha is not given the respect and the facilities that she so richly and rightly deserves, how will the youngsters be motivated ? If we get see most of our sporting heroes shedding tears every now and then on national television because of the step-motherly treatment that they have received from the authorities, who will want to be a sports person ? Last but not the least, where do our sports men and women stand financially and socially ? Ofcourse apart from the ramp walking, Bollywood dating cricketers. Are any of our sporting elite secure in sports ? If one looks at the sporting elite of the world around, how secure they are in terms of finances and how high they are socially, the void is too great to even compare the status of our sports personalities. It is the duty of the Government to see that due incentives and facilities are provided not only to the upcoming sports personalities but also to the laurel winning professionals of yester years, only then will our youngsters realize that sports can give them the life that they would like to have and strive to give their best and only then will we excel in sports. I am not sure if cricket is a boon or a curse to Indian sports, after all the hype it has, what has it given India, a lone world cup, and a 20-20 world cup and lot of heart-aches year after year with more losses and less wins, if only all the money was rightly used to develop and enhance other sports India would be much better off in world sports today. In India politics in sports is a "giant combo" that towers over, all the rest of the evil and has chocked-up most of the aspiring and talented sports men and women and therein lies the sorry story of the decay of sports glory for India. Even today If the Authorities, clean up their acts and dedicate themselves to the genuine cause of sports in India, we can still have our flag flying high a number of times at the presentation ceremonies of international events. Lets hope and pray that better sense prevails over personal benefits and egos and sporting glory for our Nation. Freddy Agnelo Fernandes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The content of this electronic communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and any others who are specifically authorized to receive it. It may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or otherwise placing reliance on the contents of this information is prohibited and may be unlawful in certain legal jurisdictions. 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