'The incident is unfortunate'

Vox pop

This is not the first time a sport icon has been shabbily treated in our country.

With the Commonwealth Games around the corner, this incident has definitely  dampened the spirits of  sports-lovers across the country. Metrolife caught up with a few youngsters and sports personalities in the City who openly expressed their displeasure at mixing sports with politics. Sports must be free of all politics, they averred.

Vigneshwar Hegde
Student, PES College

“Such things can only happen in India. Even a child knows that Vishwanathan Anand is India’s pride. It is not only a matter of shame but also a clear sign of government neglect. A sport like cricket is over hyped in our country and at the cost of other sports. These incidents only prove that there’s no  respect for the hard work of sportsmen in our country. With a population of a billion people, we still haven’t managed to produce a sports star on a par with the sports stars of other countries.”

Priyanka
Student, Baldwin Women’s Methodist College

“I believe the media is partly responsible for the deplorable plight of Indian sports. It focuses only on cricket and relegates other sports into dark. The media should give equal importance to every sport and motivate the youngsters to take up sports other than cricket. If you recall, when our cricket team won the Twenty20 Cup, the government spent so much money on the players. But when the hockey team won the Asia Cup, the case was different. Why such double standards? The sports federations are overcrowded by politicians and businessmen who cannot understand the value of sports icons.”

Nisha Millet
Former Olympian

“What else do you expect from ignorant people manning the national sports other than such silly stuff? Vishwanathan Anand has achieved so much in life that he lost nothing by rejecting the doctorate. It is the country that has lost a fine opportunity to honour an excellent sportsperson. We have all faced the lack of sponsorship to get trained abroad. The sportspersons abroad have their own sports psychiatrist and bio-mechanic experts. Even our national teams cannot be compared to them. When we have so many sports stars, why should we have politicians manage sports organisations?” 

Harsha
Student, New Horizon College of Engineering

“Whenever the cricket selection board keeps a popular player out of the team for a tournament, his fans take to the streets in his favour. On the other hand, when an athlete or any other non-cricketing sportsperson fails to get a sponsor, it hardly matters. What has happened to Vishwanathan Anand is not a new issue. As long as our sports infrastructure remains poor, it is natural for players to seek help from other countries for professional training. So the government should bear the expenditure of all the players who win national level games to produce world class players.”

Reeth Abraham
Athlete

“The incident is unfortunate but is not the first-of-its-kind. The entire Indian sports federation has become a victim of power, corruption and mismanagement. With just a month to go for Commonwealth Games, the athletic teams have not even been finalised yet. It will create a lot of mental pressure on players and they can’t really focus on their game. Media too is responsible in this regard. The real problem with us is that a strong sports culture is absent in our society.”