Let's play

Recently there was a lot said about Olympic medalist Vijender singh joining professional boxing instead of continuing with amateur Boxing and playing for the country. What’s the big deal if a person wants to move to a different ladder when the old ladder is broken? Everyone is criticizing him for not waiting till Rio-Olympics as he was one of the very few people from whom we expected a medal. Looking at the direction Indian boxing is heading one can say Vijender made the right choice. He took the risk and showed the young boxers who sit there cribbing that IABF is doing enough that make your own way. Even the Government of India will probably wake up and provide better facilities to players when it sees a few good player quit playing for the country. What’s interesting is that no one questioned the cricketers when Indian eleven did not play at the Asian games 2010 and 2014. Seems like it’s acceptable that cricketers can make money for themselves but all other players are not allowed to think like that.

We often see the how badly are our players treated. Some of them are able to get laurels not because of the system but despite the system. That’s the exact reason why many players quit and never want their children to be sports person. Players do not have all their life to play. Their sports career is limited by age. If they do not make enough money in that short span they will probably have to suffer later. We can see numerous examples of national level sports players living in poverty. Its time they all decided to take things in their hands and change direction and start playing for clubs or other leagues to make money. After all sports may be their passion they still need money for living. Often prize money is announced but rarely do the players get their real share. the prize money us not released or is tied in bureaucratizes. Why will anyone care to play for the country when the country does not care for them?

Interestingly with all the corruption allegation IPL may be maligned but it has paved way for many players not just in cricket but other sports to get fame and money for their talent. Looking at success of IPL many more leagues have been launched like Hockey India league, Indian Super League, Pro Kabaddi League, Indian Badminton League.  These leagues help raise money, bring fame to the talented players, give exposure about games other than cricket to our younger generation and above all provide a chance to our players to play with international players and get insight into their style.

This is history in making. When government failed to provide support, commercial interest of the league organizers helped the players get necessary support. These players are now becoming house hold names and it’s nice to see kids be interested in sports. As the pro kabaddi league season begins I can see children in the park playing kabbadi. When we see children getting connected to the game that was invented in our country and the one where we are the undefeated champions at Asian Games one cannot help but smile.