Sports
Good afternoon everyone! The issue I would like to discuss with you today is that of the development of sports in our country. India is a country of more than 1 billion people, in spite of this we hardly win any medals at the Olympic Games, and rarely win a gold medal. Apart from cricket, most sports are largely neglected in our country. Sports like football, hockey, tennis and athletics are not given any importance. The government does not provide any funds for these sports and does nothing to encourage development in these fields.
In India, sports other than cricket are not considered a serious career. Today, a young school-going boy who is exceptionally good at football and has great enthusiasm for the sport is still discouraged by his parents from playing football for a living. This is because the parents feel that football is not a lucrative career option, as the players don’t earn that much money. So, the child is forced to give up the sport and focus on his education instead.
There are many talented youngsters in our country who have the potential to excel at the international level. For example, consider the sport of tennis, how many of us know that a 16-year old Indian girl from Hyderabad named Sania Mirza won the junior doubles crown at Wimbledon? With a little more encouragement and some more support from back home, this girl has the potential to become a great champion even at the senior level. If the entire nation cheered for her like we do for our cricketers than she would surely be motivated to perform better.
In the field of Hockey, India has always had a competitive team with some world-class performers. Even then, the popularity of hockey has declined due to reasons like lack of funding, very little media attention and so on. Our Hockey team recently gave an excellent performance against world champions Australia on their own home ground, but received hardly any accolades or even acknowledgement of their efforts.
Consider the sport of
In India, sports other than cricket are not considered a serious career. Today, a young school-going boy who is exceptionally good at football and has great enthusiasm for the sport is still discouraged by his parents from playing football for a living. This is because the parents feel that football is not a lucrative career option, as the players don’t earn that much money. So, the child is forced to give up the sport and focus on his education instead.
There are many talented youngsters in our country who have the potential to excel at the international level. For example, consider the sport of tennis, how many of us know that a 16-year old Indian girl from Hyderabad named Sania Mirza won the junior doubles crown at Wimbledon? With a little more encouragement and some more support from back home, this girl has the potential to become a great champion even at the senior level. If the entire nation cheered for her like we do for our cricketers than she would surely be motivated to perform better.
In the field of Hockey, India has always had a competitive team with some world-class performers. Even then, the popularity of hockey has declined due to reasons like lack of funding, very little media attention and so on. Our Hockey team recently gave an excellent performance against world champions Australia on their own home ground, but received hardly any accolades or even acknowledgement of their efforts.
Consider the sport of