The
continuing Indian Good to Great Miss.
The last
week saw the culmination of two high stake sporting events for India. The Asian
Games and the decider of the India England Cricket series.
In the
Asian games, yes, the team performed better than before. We won a far greater number
of medals than before. Gold medals in as diverse fields as bridge (an elite
brain game) to women’s heptathlon.
But, there
was a gap. The performance was good, not great.
The sordid
saga of so near yet so far was too stark to miss. A silver for Sindhu, a bronze
in Men’s hockey, a silver in Women’s hockey, no gold in both men’s and women’s
kabaddi… no medal to show in Men’s badminton.
It was
difficult to digest that in the Men’s hockey semi-final we were leading 2-1 and
lost to Malaysia. To a team that beat us only twice so far – in the Asian games
semi final in 2010 and now, in 2018.
Sindhu is
fast becoming Silver Sindhu. In the last one year, she has shockingly lost in
seven finals.
Kabaddi,
India’s own game saw us winning a bronze and a silver in men’s and women’s
games respectively.
In
Athletics too, we had quite a few silvers.
And,
Cricket!
The
bombastic Ravi Shastri had promised that India would be the best touring side. This
has not proven true so far.
In match
after match (expect for Lords) we had the game in our control, only to lose the
plot.
Many feel
that the scoreline of 1-3 after four tests is not reflective of the way the
series was played. But history will not be so kind to us.
So, what is
going wrong with us?
We seem to
be lacking the killer instinct.
What is
driving that? Possibly, too early a recognition and too large a bonus for small
achievements.
A message
was floating around after the Asian Games that said that it was not the Complan
boy, the Horlicks girl or the Boost athlete who won the medals, it is the Dal,
Chawal, Chutney athlete who won the medals.
And,
therein lies a story.
Carolina
Marin, the one who vanquished Sindhu in the Rio Olympics had made a
tongue-in-cheek remark that she had won far less money than Sindhu who had won
a silver.
Look at
Cricket, IPL has pampered cricketers so much that they can’t last on the field
more than a few balls in tough conditions.
Together,
they contribute to repeated mis-steps on the road to greatness.
The way
out?
1) A culture where the Good is
acknowledged, not celebrated. Can’t imagine anyone in the US or China
celebrating players who have been second best.
2) High performance trainers who can
psyche the players to give their best in the toughest of situations.
In the
absence of these, we will continue to have stars (Sindhu, Kohli, Sreejesh) but
not star performances or the glory of being winners.
