Screaming Headlines"Gold Finger", Abhinav Bindra creats history by winning First Individual Gold medal at Beijing Olympics. India has got a new Hero. The messages of congratulations are pouring in . He is now a household name. He deserves every moment of this glory. He has made every Indian proud .
But there is another article inside which is titled After Glory which is an eyeopener. It reveals how Papa Bindra set up an airconditioned shooting range for his son at their farmhouse to ensure his son had world class infrastructure at his disposal. He also funded his son's training stints abroad.
It makes one think, Abhinav is talented as well as lucky to be born in a rich family where his talent was recognised and encouraged to follow the right direction. They could afford to do so
What about those poor talented sportspersons who have to plead for even basic training facilities at their camps, fight against the dirty politics and all odds to get their names included in the final list. After going through all the trauma how can we expect to have winners.
It is not that the governmental agencies do not have the budget, they are provided with enough money which can set up the best infrastructure for these participants, the only thing is that the money is diverted to other channels for other use.
Bindra has shown that sky is the limit if the whole machinery is running smoothly without any hitches. We can have so many Bindras if only the people concerned do their jobs honestly, there will no Monicas.
Now every agency is falling head over heels to congratulate him showering him with prizes. But in their heart of hearts they know that it is truly an individual effort with no help from any one.
Besides winning the gold Abhinav did one more thing. His Olympic feat took of the attention from the miserable show of our cricket team who lost the series to Sri Lanka and also from the no show of the much hyped Sania Mirza.
It seems too much adulation is bad for any player.It goes to their head. It is the fairly unknown and dark horses who win the race.