Rio Olympics: 2 winners, 1.58b whiners from subcontinent

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Rio Olympics: 2 winners, 1.58b whiners from subcontinent
(Left) PV Sindhu; (Right) Sakshi Malik

Dubai - The subcontinent, comprising 1.58 billion people from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, has won only 2 medals in the Rio Olympic Games.

By Allan Jacob

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Published: Tue 23 Aug 2016, 1:20 PM

Last updated: Tue 23 Aug 2016, 3:30 PM

Cricket crazy. Lazy. Sorry, it's a hit wicket for the subcontinent at the Rio Games. We'll tell it like it is. The unvarnished truth. A quest for misplaced Olympic glory lost in the din of large populations. Same story. Just two medals hanging light on the necks of 1.58 billion. The burden of another loss will weigh heavy on their minds. Easy to blame it on Rio's samba and beaches.
The combined population of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka couldn't throw up one clear winner - a gold medallist. A smashing silver for P.V. Sindhu and a bronze by Sakshi Malik floored a nation of 1.2 billion, while sparking a Twitter war with neighbouring Pakistan. That's the petty picture the two countries presented to the world when they should have fought pitched battles and settled scores at the Maracana stadium.
Gymnast Dipa Karmakar displayed spunk and toyed with death in a bid to bag those extra points. She failed, but won our hearts. What else can the nation take back when expectations are at an all time low? Socialite author Shobaa De, who was trolled and hounded online for her comments, can now beam and say, "I told you so". Even tiny Lithuania and Venezuela with its struggling economy fared better that the Asian economic power which claims to be growing at 7.5 per cent, but spends 18.6 per cent of its budget on defence.

 
There are more stats to the causes of this sports tragedy. The country spends a mere $0.005 per head on sports each day.
The US, on the other hand, spends $0.30 and that's how it won 121 medals to top the table. India got a boorish performance from its over-sized bureaucracy and ministers in Brazil. A ticket to ride as track and field events became a mere sideshow despite Lalita Babar becoming the first woman to qualify for an individual Olympic track event final since 1984.
Lingering on India's failure will take the sheen away from Pakistan's inability to make its miniscule presence felt. Seven athletes were herded by 17 officials as the nation's media took them to the cleaners.
Once a hockey superpower, (it has won 8 medals) it even failed to qualify for the Games this time. Sports infrastructure in the country is in a shambles and it's no wonder that its athletes have not won an Olympic medal for 24 years now.
As for Bangladesh, all participants were wild cards. None qualified. It continues to makes waves during every Olympics for the wrong reasons and this time was no different.
Bangladesh is still medal-less - one of the 75  (of the 206 participating nations) that went home with nothing. A quest without meaning for a country of 160 million.
Even Kosovo, a former war zone struck gold in the women's 52kg judo competition at Rio.
Sri Lanka's is another sorry Olympic saga and the state of sports in the country can be summed up in the words of Susanthika Jayasinghe, its lone silver medallist at the Sydney Games: "How can I help others when I am struggling alone to bring up my two children?" she said of her eight-year old son and  two-year-old daughter.
"See what has happened to me. I am an Olympic medallist, but today, I am just a wastrel."
Large populations don't make great competitors is the moral of another dismal medal hunt. A bitter, unpalatable truth for some. So, how about beefing up performances for the Olympics, the Games that matter.
A change in diet? No. Sportspersons will make a dash from cow vigilantes in India. More TV debates. Shouting, beating, shaming. A national disgrace.
Start small. The masses and officials of the subcontinent could look to Grenada and Kosovo for inspiration in sports.
Focus, funds and facilities from the government and the private sector for Olympic discipline will develop champions. Cricket mania is no excuse to stump these countries in other sports.
- allan@khaleejtimes.com


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