Indian sport - what exactly are we trying to convey?

Are we to feel proud of Indian sport?

Well, for time immemorial, India has been obsessed with cricket. It enjoys greater following than the anointed national sport - hockey. We didn't even manage to make it to the hockey world cup this time. Tennis - we had talent. Lee - Hesh could quash any opponent. But there was a classic case of self before country, self before team. What their reasons were, no clue! But the fact remains that we again had a star that paled before it could begin to twinkle. Sania Mirza - wonder why people make a big deal at all! Motorsport - Narain Karthikeyan - In a race with 6 racers - a fiasco called American GP 2006, he didn't manage to make it to the podium. Olympics - less said the better. China sat like a quiet giant, watching, observing, assimilating. No participation till 1984. And then, they burst into the scene, as winners. They play to win. And here, the story is dismal to say the least.

As we look back at a year almost past, this has been a rather poor year for Indian sport. Yes, we did try a first by starting the IPL, which was a starry attempt at building cricket cohesiveness - county cricket on the world stage. We did win the T20world cup. We did win an Olympic Gold. We did win a couple of Bronzes as well, by far the best performance to date. But then what? And these days, we see pages and pages of coverage on a test series, called the 'badla' series by some hoardings and banners. Revenge? Can someone please open a dictionary and prove that revenge is not meek submission, but actual badla?

No I am not saying that we need to be winners everywhere. But then why move around making laughing stocks of ourselves? There is a story that goes thus. A she-jackal and a lioness sat talking about their respective cubs. The jackal bragged, saying, " Mine is a momentous achievement, since I have 7 cubs in all, all lovely silky brown cubs." And the bragging went on for a while. The lioness stayed quiet for a while, and then gently replied, " I have one cub, and he is a lion". The purport - Go figure!