While millions of dollars were spent on individual players in the just concluded Indian Premier League, the first 20-20 tournament of its kind in cricket, the condition of other sports remains deplorable.
In the recently concluded Santosh Trophy, which used to be the premier soccer tournament until recently, players were paid Rs 450(about $10 a day) for their stay, food and other expenses. This just goes to show the kind of encouragement that sports other then cricket receive in India.
With the kind of step-motherly treatment of other sports, it is no surprise that when the Olympics come, we do not end up on the winning side. By any chance, if we win a single medal, it is made out to look like we have conquered the whole world. Politicians line up to facilitate the winner and everything is forgotten within a few days. I am pretty sure the script is not going to change much after the Beijing Olympics.
But as always after every Olympics, we just hope that it will be a different story in the next Olympics. And every four years, our hopes and dreams are dashed. But unless we make a significant investment in developing, nurturing and professionally managing other sports, winning in the Olympics would be something which we will have to just dream about and hope that it comes true.
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