The Olympic Fire

What connects the following individuals?
Norman Pritchard, Kasba Jadhav, Leander Paes, Vasudevan Bhaskaran and a whole host of hockey players, other than the fact that all these individuals have won medals for India at the Olympics?
What connects Milkha Singh, P.T Usha, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and many other such names other than the fact that these individuals have given India glory in the world of sport?

Unfortunately, the connection is something really shameful. When the Olympic torch visited India after 40 long years, none of these people were given the honour of carrying the torch. Yes, there were a few sportspersons, who did carry it; but then there were the Bipasha Basu's, the Aamir Khan's, the Aishwarya Rai's, the Vivek Oberoi's who also managed to get their hands onto the sacred torch.

What a shame!

India is a country, which, for most of the last century, had the best hockey team in the world. It also had a moderately successful cricket team and that's about it. Glory in any other sport was unheard of. Hence, when the P.T Ushas and Milkha Singhs managed to put a small dot representing India on the world map of athletics, sports aficionados like me assumed that the country would be proud, and indebted to these people forever. But then, sadly, nobody cared. The whole opportunity that we got when the torch came here went abegging. Filmstars, who aren't worth anything got to carry the torch.

Tomorrow, I am looking at a scenario, where in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, we will have an Amitabh Bachcham administer the players oath. An Aishwarya Rai to light the torch, a Kareena Kapoor to receive medals on behalf of athletes, an Isha Koppikar to perform an item number during the opening ceremony, a Mallika Sherawat carrying the country's flag in the parade( and maybe kissing players in the process.. who knows).

What a shame!!

Why couldn't the ministry insist on using this torch as a platform to re-live the great Indian Hockey magic of the 30s,40s,50s,60s? Why couldn't they have searched for some descendant of Norman Pritchard or Kasba Jadhav and commemorated them? Why couldn't they have Dhyanchand or Milkha Singh inspire young sportsmen of the country? Why??

Small wonder then that India produces fewer noteworthy sportsmen than the atomic country of Surinam. Why would somebody want spend his/her life devoted to bring laurels to the country, when the country least cares about it? Small wonder that eminent sportspersons reject the big joke called the Arjuna award. When every sportsman big and small gets one anyway, then why should people bother about performing?

Its a terrible,terrible shame!!