Tags:
Journalism of Courage
AKRAM SHAH (Judo)
I have set my eyes now on Beijing, having learnt a lot from my Athens experience. I didn’t know about the Arjuna Award when I took up judo; once I did, I wanted to win it desperately.
There is no complete knowledge of judo in India. People still think of it as a self-defence mechanism rather than a serious sport where you can compete on the international stage and win medals. For that we need more facilities here — we have just one judo hall in the country in Patiala. We need to train abroad; even getting a foreign coach here will not help much, we have already got a couple of them here before from Uzbekistan and Japan. We need to compete and train with the best, to know where we are lacking.
MITHALI RAJ (Cricket)
This award is a huge recognition for women’s cricket in the country. Being only the fifth woman cricketer ever to get this honour, it does feel special. But more than individual glory, I hope it raises awareness about the sport. The only way to do this is by increasing telecast of our matches, at least the internationals. And to hold more tournaments in India. The last major event for us was the series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in April this year. And the next one is the World Cup next year.
The best news for women’s cricket in India will be the merger of the women’s association with the BCCI — it will at least take care of the financial aspects.
RAJESH PATTU (Equestrian sports)
An award for equestrian sport has come after 13 years, so it definitely feels great. For me, it is only encouragement enough to get better with every attempt.
The sport is very important to me: it helped me come to terms with the Uphaar tragedy, (Pattu got the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak for saving several lives that day) helped me get a balance on my life, though the tragedy still haunts me.
The biggest problem for the sport in India is the quality of horses — in Europe they have been doing selective breeding for almost 100 years, it’s not so here. But we are planning to buy some horses in England soon, if we get some good ones, it will help us a lot.
SOMA BISWAS (Heptathlon)
I am 26 and, as things stand right now, I have a few more years of international competition ahead of me. But I will need to improve on some fronts from here on. I need to fine-tune some areas…minor corrections. Like my jumps…At Athens, my points went down quite a bit because my long jump was very bad. Obviously I am not a bad jumper but there are some technicalities that need to be worked on.
An award like this is always useful because your confidence isn’t always at the same level — especially with J J Shobha, my junior, doing so much better at Athens — and the Arjuna will motivate me to try new things. Money is always a huge problem for athletes in India. Also, we need to take part in international competitions on a regular basis. That’s the main thing, even more than training. I also want to train abroad for a while, but then I don’t think I can afford it, even with the Arjuna money. Let’s see what happens.
SURAJLATA DEVI (Hockey)
It obviously feels good, and the award will inspire me to play even better. Though maybe I should have got this award earlier on the basis of my performances, I’m happy to get it now — maybe I just had to work so much harder to achieve this.
The award will encourage women’s hockey in India. We are currently in Delhi for a month-long fitness camp but our next major tournament will be the Indira Gandhi Gold Cup in February next year. The more important year is 2006 and we are eyeing it seriously since there will be the Asian Games, the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.
SANJEEV KUMAR (Kabaddi)
It’s a bad time for Indian kabaddi because while it remains an Indian sport and we are still the best in the world, a few countries are catching up with us. Countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan and Iran are not very far behind us anymore. If things go on like this, it’s not long before we start losing. The problem is that kabaddi remains a rural sport in India, you obviously won’t find city youngsters taking to kabaddi, but we have done nothing to scout around the villages to find good youngsters. That’s the biggest problem. Because unless fresh blood comes in, there can’t be improvement.
But I have high hopes from the World Cup to be played in Mumbai in November — I hope I am picked — because that will give the sport a fillip here. Also, a few of us have been winning the Arjuna Award for the past few years, and that helps spread the popularity of the sport somewhat. But one Arjuna Award every year won’t help…a lot more needs to be done.
— Shamya Dasgupta & Uthra Ganesan
