One Billion - One Medallion

Abhinav Bindra has given a 'Golden Gift' to his own countrymen on the occasion of Independence Day. His Gold medal winning performance is surely the greatest moment in history of Indian sports since independence. The country is showering all the accolades on him and rightly so.

We hear some outrageous reactions being given by the sports officials like Mr kalmadi of IOA. The other day he was seen claiming a turn around in India's performance at international level after this success. Well, this is hardly likely to happen, at least in near future. Because, even in this euphoria of first ever gold, one can not overlook certain stark realities.

One must not forget that the success achieved by Abhinav is entirely on his own. Of course his financially strong family stood in good stead. But neither the shooting Federation of India, nor Indian Olympic Association and certainly not the officials like Mr Kalmadi have a slightest contribution in his success. Hence Mr Kalmadi and others need not congratulate themselves on Bindra's achievement. Rajyawardhan Rathore, the Athens Hero too benifited from the fact that he is an armyman. Sania Mirza, Paes and Bhupati, Vishwanathan Anand, Jeev Milkha Singh.. all these sportpersons have come in to prominence by their own dedication and backed by family support. The efforts on individual levels are bound to result in medals few and far in between. For a large scale success, a planned and large scale effort on governmental and organisational level is necessary. China is now reaping the fruits of rigourous and concentrated hard work for more than three decades.

So, the the hopes of inspired performances from other Indian atheletes in Beijing have quickly evaporated. A feeble hope still rests on Paes-Bhupati. But, it seems as though the tag of 'One Medal country' will continue to stick with India until next Olympics!!