A SILVER AND A BRONZE

-Bernard Fernandes sdb

India realized the worth of a silver and a bronze medal at the recently concluded London Olympics 2012 - the gold eluded us.  As a nation, we may be despondent; however, we are also searing in our post-mortems and evaluations.  There is no disgrace in coming second or third, or for that matter last – provided one tried. We cannot judge India on its billion plus population, rather, on the exposure and the ‘effective participation’ of our athletes at the world level. A critical study, “Why we are not a sporting nation” summarizes thus: “Despite India’s giant population, its effective participation level is abysmally low. And sports is cruelly pyramidic, with a very small percentage of participants winning through to the top. If our base is small, the peak will naturally be short.”

In the same vein, there is no reason for armchair critics to refrain from applauding a good and spirited performance.  Negative reporting is disparaging and mocking to the sportspersons, and also a morale dampener for us sports lovers.  As one level-headed Indian Olympic journalist says, “the Games become an exhibition of a tribal media mindset that India’s athletes continue to endure.” Sample some of the oft heard reports by our media: ‘crashed out’, ‘finished last’, ‘lowly eighth’. These can be disrepectlful and discouraging to a trying and committed sportsperson. Suma Shirur, an Indian rifle shooter at the 2004 Athen Olympics, is a case in point.  A reporter recounts:

‘One evening at the Athens Olympics, I was firmly put in my place by Suma Shirur, rifle shooter. Under a balmy summer night sky, Shirur could be found at the hockey competition, on a stand situated behind one of the goal-mouths. I went over to introduce myself and ask if I could talk to her about breathing the rarefied air of an Olympic final. For about 15 seconds, Shirur heard out the introduction and request. Then, her normally soft voice went sharp and she replied that she didn’t want to have anything do with the media. She wasn’t going to be wasting her time talking to them i.e. me. In any case why did we want to? In any case, she said, the headlines being flashed back home had declared she had “finished last.”’

 Shirur was only the second Indian into an Olympic shooting final after Anjali Bhagwat in Sydney 2000. She was one of the eight women out of a total of the world’s 44 best 10m air rifle shooters. Her life’s work and achievement though had been summarized as “finished last.” Unfair?

Closer home, our young Josephites returned with a silver and a bronze in the Mumbai city tournaments in basketball and football respectively.  After bull-dozing their way to the finals through a spirited and outstanding display, our under-14 basketball team players proved their mettle by finishing runners-up to Don Bosco, Matunga in the Savio Hoop, Level A,  tournament held at Dominic Savio High School, Andheri. In football, in the same age group, our boys bagged the third place in the DSO Subroto Mukherjee football tournament for Mumbai city, defeating Christchurch, Byculla 2-1 in a hard fought play-off match for the 3^rd and 4^th position.  Earlier they lost to Don Bosco, Matunga – they don’t seem to have grown bored of laying waste to rivals! – in the semifinals.

Keep going boys.  The journey is tough.  As Gagan Narang, our bronze medallist at the London Olympic games says: “Unfortunately, a journey is deemed complete only when you win something.” Or is it?!