India yet to become a multi-sport powerhouse

Post the Mumbai Indians win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the cliffhanger of a final match, social media has been flooded with WhatsApp videos circulating like satellites in overdrive. These videos are about the winning team's owners celebrating and the trophy being taken to the family deity and then to a temple in south-central Mumbai.

While it is good to thank god for success and such an edge-of-the-seat contest was thrilling for fans, it is also important to see victories in the right perspective. Through the IPL final, the camera was zooming in on spectators, head bowed in fervent prayer. Even the gods must have smiled and said, "Relax, this is only the IPL".

The IPL is certainly not the World Cup. That is just around the corner, beginning on May 30 in England and Wales, with a schedule stretching right into July. It is the test of fire for world cricket teams and fans will be looking forward to an action-packed English summer. The real victory - one with fervent prayers and invoking divine intervention - should be that of the World Cup. If the tricolour flies high in England, it's is the win that should be celebrated in the grandest style. Having said that, let us also remember the milestones India needs to achieve on the sporting firmament.

The promise that India has to become a multi-sport powerhouse is yet to be realised on the Olympic stage. We have to struggle and persevere to improve our medal tally on the biggest platform of all. Grassroots sporting programmes and training need to improve by leaps and bounds. Even our sporting infra at the local level is abysmal. India has a very long way to go before it becomes a sporting powerhouse and we have to move with will and a real game plan towards it. The IPL victories are small steps on the arduous journey to consistency on the international platform. Let us pray to the almighty for success in ol blighty.

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