Dear Editor,
Every country participating in the Olympics does so to win medals. Our sportspersons also competed but the final result was rather dissapponting. India’s Rio story ended with just one silver and one bronze medal, secured by two young girls who won inspite of an uncaring, inefficient and corrupt system. Their victory is theirs alone. This is a matter of shame that for a country of 1.25 billion people. In comparison, many smaller countries have done much better. Even in a game like hockey, which was once India’s forte, even a bronze medal proved to be a distant dream.
Sure, the government is responsible for this mess – it has no consistent sports policy and suddenly wakes up a couple of months before the games while our preparations for the next event should start on the very day that the previous one ends – but the public is also at fault. Indian parents don’t see sports as a career for their children. Also, the education system doesn’t promote sports
M. C Joshi
Via-e-mail