Rise of Indian Athletes: CWG shows the best of India
The Commonwealth Games ended with a spectacular closing ceremony and a lot of fanfare. One of the most surprising things was the large number of medals that Indian athletes managed to get by the conclusion of the Games. Before the Games started, India was better known for cricket and hockey but now a whole new raft of sports stars are emerging in the country. It is unlikely, but maybe in the next few years, sports stars such as wrestlers and swimmers in India get the same sort of endorsement deals as cricketers. India has shown the world that it is a force to be reckoned with in the world of athletics.
Athletics in India stretch back thousands of years and go back all the way to the Vedic era. During the Vedic period, a large number of athletics started in the country; from chariot racing, archery, wrestling, swimming and hunting. There is no way to know exactly when the modern version of athletics started in India but a lot of sources point to around the time of independence from colonial rule. A little before the time of independence, in 1946, several athletic organisations were set up and started to work to promote different Indian athletics programmes. The same year, the Amateur Athletics Federation of India was set up to work with all the other organisations to try and take athletics in the country forward.
The various programmes seemed to have paid off over the years with Indian athletes excelling in various fields and in many different sports. The Indian government has pumped a lot of money into various athletics programmes over the years as well as providing training venues and other sorts of support. Even though athletics may never be as popular as cricket or hockey in the country, the Commonwealth Games went a long way to promote non traditional sports in the country and made some unlikely heroes in the process.
During the Games, India managed to shock a lot of people by winning 38 gold medals and bettering England’s tally of 37 to get to the number two position in the medals table. The really dominant country out there was Australia with a total of 74 gold medals and no one else even came close to them. But it was very encouraging for the Indian contingent that they were able to achieve so many gold medals. In the process of winning all those gold medals, Indian athletics managed to capture the imagination of the country’s sports fans. It was a great finish to a sporting event that was plagued by massive setbacks before it even started, from a collapsed footbridge to a snake and monkey problem to security concerns. The South Asian powerhouse managed to dispel a lot of naysayers’ fears and showed their critics that India was capable of pulling off a major event like this off.
For the moment though, many of the stars of India’s Commonwealth team will go home to normal jobs and regular lives, unlike the superstars of cricket. A study has shown that despite the fact that the government has done a lot to promote athletics in India; a lot of athletes do not receive the large sponsorship deals or massive product endorsement deals. A large number of athletes actually work for the Indian Railways. There are several advantages to working for the Railways in the country. First of all the organisation along with many other organisations in India compete in sporting competitions and this gives an athlete a good chance to stay fit and in training during the time between international competitions. Also the Railway and other institutions reserve jobs especially for athletes and this can lead to a healthy monthly income for a sportsperson and the opportunity to be able to continue in their chosen sport.
Along with China, India looks likely to lead a new generation of talented athletes and Olympians to take the world by storm. It may be India’s immense population that gives rise to this phenomenon or it could be great athletics programmes and governmental support. In the next few years it could very well be an Indian Usain Bolt or an Indian Michael Phelps that become household names.
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