[handsofsteel]

Originally Posted by Theyota

Hi Sk8r, you have to understand that, in Indian context "Roller Skating" Hockey is such a niche and not relevant sport. Expecting to get sponsored for such a sport is a stretch in a country like ours. I am pretty sure I would have problem putting together a team of eleven roller skating hockey players in the whole of my home district. Why would anyone sponsor such a sport when there are many other significantly more popular sports.

Expecting to get sponsored is such a loaded term.
Nobody enters a sport with any expectations except to have fun. As you gain proficiency, you want to represent the country, win an Olympic/ World championship medal and then, turn pro/ get a good college admission. Expectations largely centre around these in mostly the same order as well.

How do you define a relevant sport in India? One in which you can hope for a medal? Or one in which you can eke out a career? Or one played by thousands? Go to any swim meet, you will find 100s of kids. State championships and Nationals have over a 1000 hopefuls. Would you call it a relevant sport?

Assuming you do, here is the sad state. Participants travel at their own expense, stay of their own accord at meets. Kits (often undersized/ ill fitting) are handed out at the venues. Certificates/ prize money announced by the state federations (if any), have to be collected months/ years later. My kiddos are still missing a few Senior Nationals certificates from 2 years back because "saab field visit par hain." Did I mention the swim suit costs upwards of 25k and can be worn only 10-12 times? Or the fact that good coaches cost a bomb?

Of late, the Khelo India is a hugely beneficial program which has cut out the federation and gives money directly to the athletes. However, the Khelo athletes are the best of the best and you cannot reach here without being in the good books of the federation. No matter that the state secretary is a political appointee with zero knowledge of swimming. FWIW, in a recent junior nationals, an event was stopped midway for the VIP's entrance and felicitation. I do not blame the Govt, they have actually brought in reforms but till we change as a society, there is no hope.

What do India's top swimmers do after they turn 18-19? Ones with loaded parents go abroad for studies. Middle and lower middle class, if they reach this level, eagerly grab one of the Class III/ Class II Govt jobs that are doled out - Railways, Police, Defence, PSUs etc wherein they are again treated as 'the outsider' and have limited career prospects. Its a sad life and no well meaning, far-thinking parent would actually take the plunge. Even if they were to, thoughts are always on the 'exit policy.'

God forbid you were to choose a niche sport, still popular, but perceived as upper class, be prepared to shell out exorbitant sums of money for mediocre coaching/ leaking facilities and be prepared to keep everyone in good humour for fear of acquiring a bad reputation, antagonising an important functionary. Team events are a strict no no because of the politics involved in team composition/ selection. It's better to take up an individual sport and shine/ perish on your own merits.

One constant is - You can forget sponsorship at the grass root levels in any sport in any city in India. Parents have to shell out upwards of 10k upto 60k per month to indulge this fantasy. Even international medals do not get you the coveted sponsorship. ROI is an alien concept in 99% of the sports unless you are a media figure. Coming to the media, it is entirely their prerogative on whether to cover your achievement. The day one of our juniors won a coveted medal recently, the news was covering some foreign cricket team captain's squabbles with his Board. Unless you have contacts, they won't even deign to cover your achievement.

Given all that I have said, why would anyone be prepared to toil for years and years at their own expense for a very short shelf life at the very peak? I guess only the 'maddest' of them all do and that too for some silly sense of self actualisation. The prose below summarises it beautifully. Not my words, (author unknown), but extremely apt.

One of my friends asked "Why do you pay so much money for your child to play sport”?

Well.... I have a confession to make; I don't pay for my child to do well in sports.

Personally, it does not matter so long as my child learns the lessons sports teach !!

So, if I am not paying for sports what am I paying for?

- I pay for those moments when my child becomes so tired he wants to quit but doesn't.

- I pay for those days when my child comes home from school and is "too tired" to go for practice but goes anyway.

- I pay for my child to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated.

- I pay for my child to learn to take care of their body and life.

- I pay for my child to learn to work with others and to be good team mate, gracious in defeat and humble in success.

- I pay for my child to learn to deal with disappointment, when my child doesn't get that medal or title they’d hoped for, but still go back day after day giving it their best shot.

- I pay for my child to learn to set and accomplish goals.

- I pay for my child to respect, not only the self but other athletes, officials and coaches.

- I pay for my child to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of unapplauded hard work and practice to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight.

- I pay for my child to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals.

- I pay for the opportunities my child has and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of their achievements as I am.

- I pay so that my child can be out on the glass court or in the gym instead of in front of a screen...

...I could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for sports; I pay for the opportunities that sports provide my child with, to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their life and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others.

From what I have seen so far I think it is a GREAT investment! Sports teaches a Lot!

[maddy42]

Fitness is a lifestyle. Kudos to people here who take the time in their day to spend on bettering themself but for a majority - 95% of our country, even taking a one hour walk every day is a impossible idea with multiple reasons. No place to walk, long work hours, no footpath or park etc, due to which the normal above 30 year old male has a paunch due to the over eating and lack of physical exercise.

Coming back to the athletes - We did get a lot of 4th places this time around which can be bettered with both better coaching for the players to perform under pressure as well as the players focusing on their key strengths and not loosing focus. Winning Attitude and Body language is also very very important.

Our hockey team had a weakness - Inability to score running goals and having a terrible front line. They used that knowledge to always get Penalty Corners, which was then converted by Harmanpreet Singh's drag flicks.

In the last two mins of the bronze medal game, we could not even hold the ball and there was 2 circle entries by Spanish players, which thankfully didn't succeed.

We had athletes mentioning having not eaten for two days before a boxing bout to make weight, how do you expect them to perform for 5 minutes with no energy?

No one remembers the person who came 4th. Here is a critic article on the Archery team. I had a huge hope on them but alas, again it was expectations exceeded results.

https://www.espn.in/olympics/story/_...-olympics-2024

Lastly - Comparison to cricket and BCCI. The one good thing which has happened with the advent of IPL is that its not just the Top 15 who make the big bucks but this gets trickled down to about 150 players across all the IPL teams. The motivation to perform exists and there is a light at the end of their tunnels.

[kiranknair]

Originally Posted by maddy42

No one remembers the person who came 4th. Here is a critic article on the Archery team. I had a huge hope on them but alas, again it was expectations exceeded results.

https://www.espn.in/olympics/story/_...-olympics-2024

Perfect explanation of the Archery fiasco. Looks like lot of lessons need to be learnt from the shooting federation. The entire archery federation (AAI) needs a lot of revamping. As mentioned clearly in the article - "Good friends go to these Olympics, not people with merit or qualifications,". That explains the rot in the system. You have a physio going and a psychologist absent - We have seen even the seasoned archers represening multiple times in the olympics choking in the quarters after doing excellent in the qualifiers.

And as tweeted by Viren Rasquinha, The Govt/SAI has 8 High Priority Disciplines in Sport and funds/supports all these 8 sports.

1. Archery
2. Athletics
3. Badminton
4. Boxing
5. Hockey
6. Shooting
7. Weightlifting
8. Wrestling

Only Archery has yet to win an Olympic medal. Food for thought.

[NomadSK]

Meanwhile this happened on another planet.

This man gave Ireland's Olympic gold medal rowers a ride home from the airport.

When Duggan and his friends struck up a conversation with the duo on a plane from France to Dublin on Tuesday, McCarthy admitted they hadn't arranged a ride for the three-hour drive to County Cork, and were planning to try and catch a bus from the Dublin Airport.

When 20 minutes passed with no sign of the medallists, Duggan says he figured they must have been swept into some kind of VIP area and were "already in a car already halfway down the road to Cork.

He offered to take home as many athletes as he could fit. He ended up chauffeuring McCarthy, O'Donovan and their fellow Team Ireland rower Natalie Long.

McCarthy was only coming home long enough to drop off a bunch of luggage before heading back to Paris for the closing ceremonies. O'Donovan, meanwhile, is a doctor in the city of Cork, and had to get back to work before taking off again for the World Rowing Championships later this month.

We got a door-to-door service," McMarthy told Star Sport. "It was brilliant.

LINK

[DigitalOne]

Breaking news coming in now - Vinesh Phogat verdict deferred to 16th August.

[NomadSK]

Meanwhile Jordan Chiles is stripped of her bronze medal.

On Aug. 5, Chiles was competing in the women's floor exercise and appeared to have finished fifth.

Ana Bărbosu believed she had won bronze and began celebrating with a Romanian flag.

While Bărbosu was celebrating, U.S. head coach Cecile Landi made an inquiry — essentially a challenge of the judges' score, which can be changed after video review.

Judges had awarded the appeal, adding 0.1 points to Chiles's score and pushing her past Bărbosu and another competitor

Leading to what the athletes thought was the first all-Black gymnastics podium at the Olympics.

Romania took their case to the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), saying the U.S.'s inquiry was not made within the one-minute window stated in the rules. Romania argued that the Americans missed that time limit by four seconds.

The CAS on Saturday ruled in favour of Romania and ordered Chiles's bronze medal to be reallocated to Bărbosu.

But wait! U.S. says timing was wrong -

On Sunday, USA Gymnastics said it submitted newly discovered video evidence to the CAS that showed the inquiry was submitted 47 seconds after the score was published.

But on Monday, USA Gymnastics said the CAS won't reconsider its decision because it said the rules "do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented."

Chiles posted on her Instagram stories a series of broken hearts on a black background, followed by this statement: "I am taking this time and removing myself from social media for my mental health, thank you.

I'm confused now, Ethically/Morally, who deserves the medal

News Link

[RunGaDa]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

- We never had sponsors

- We had to buy our own kits.

I can second this. There is nothing given away by the system. Even if the process is there nothing reaches the end point.
And not just this even small thing like NCC has been full of corruption. All money is extracted from cadets and there is no bill or receipt of anything. They have all people in between who eat all the money.
Also who ever pays bribe are given rifle training. Others are not.

[Chisels121]

Reading the struggles of all these Olympians make me sad honestly. My dad wanted me to take my badminton skills to the National level when I had won the district championship
as a 7 year old, but my lazy ass didn't want to and I never rejoined the training after pandemic. Now after school has ended I really regret not giving badminton one chance. All I hope is that other motivated athletes get parents like my dad who want them to aim higher in the sports field.

[Sourd810]

If anyone who wants to know why Olympics can be a disaster for India, you can watch this video.

https://youtu.be/qZXYj4G4vzg?si=KBVj9elKUlghRfFM

[Samurai]

Has anyone seen the full video of Rachael Gunn's so called viral performance? It is impossible to find on youtube. Almost all videos on the topic are merely talking about it, and not showing it.

[Gannu_1]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Has anyone seen the full video of Rachael Gunn's so called viral performance? It is impossible to find on Youtube. Almost all videos on the topic are merely talking about it, and not showing it.

Copyright strikes.

Here’s the clip - https://odysee.com/@deniel22:b/raygun:1

Her performance begins at 06:35.

[rx100]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Copyright strikes.

Here’s the clip - https://odysee.com/@deniel22:b/raygun:1

Her performance begins at 06:35.

Oh man, so sports politics is very much active in Down Under too

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

Her performance begins at 06:35.

I saw the whole video, since I wanted to see the opponents too. Oh god, she was totally out of her league against the world class dancers.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I saw the whole video, since I wanted to see the opponents too. Oh god, she was totally out of her league against the world class dancers.

Well, no more breakdancing at the olympics. Read that it has been scrapped after much criticism.

As for Raygun, other than the fancy name nothing of her performance was top level.

phd in break dancing?