The Tokyo Games have thrown up sportspersons with grit and large hearts like Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, whose gesture of felicitating the lift-giving truck drivers in Manipur, was kind and unique
Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu with her silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics
India’s show at the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics moved me to recall one of the legendary Jagjit Singh’s songs whose lyrics go like this: “Der lagi aane mein tumko, shukar hai phir bhi aaye toh aas ne dil ka sath na chhoda, waise hum ghabraye toh.” When translated, it means, it took time for you (read medal in this case) to come, thanks for coming. Hope did not leave my heart, but there was some anxiety.
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Golden boy Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw landed at a convincing distance and his effort reached the hearts of all Indians. The gold medal-winning effort also announced to the world that Indian athletics have also thrown their hat in the ring to sparkle at future events.
At 23, Chopra has become a superstar, a poster boy of young India. Although his javelin gold stunned all of us, he had been quite a performer before landing in Tokyo. It’s almost like we reckoned without his prowess and forgot that he was the first Indian athlete to win a World title when he triumphed at the U-20 World Championships in 2016 and the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold. Doubtless, the Tokyo gold was the icing on the cake.
Chopra’s throw is an unforgettable, epoch-making moment but that should not in any way underplay silver medal-winning weightlifter Mirabai Chanu’s Tokyo show and beyond. By beyond I mean her amazing gesture of treating 150 truck drivers to a meal and gifts for giving her countless 30km lifts from her tiny village (Nongpok Kakching) to the training academy in Imphal and back. I have seen, learnt and read about many a kind gesture, but this one is unique. Chanu has made truck drivers part of the sporting folklore. It will also serve as a reminder to sportspersons that they must not forget to acknowledge the contribution of people who shaped their game—coaches and others—and not bend their back to please those in power by crediting them for their success.
A gesture like Chanu’s reassures one and all that humanity is alive and I am sure this will inspire many more truckers to help kids who dream of making it big in sport. If Chopra is now known as a man with the golden arm, Chanu should go down in history as a woman with a heart of gold. Like him, she came into the Games as an achiever with World Championships and Commonwealth Games medals and of course being the recipient of the Padma Shri and the Khel Ratna, now rightly renamed as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna. Chanu’s success story is as fascinating as they come—her family accidently discovering her strength when, as a 12-year-old, she easily carried huge bundles of firewood home—the same bundles her elder brother found it hard to lift.
Ravi Dahiya (silver) and Bajrang Punia (bronze) kept India’s wrestling flag flying high. Dahiya showed the kind of resolve that brave hearts are made of different stuff.
PV Sindhu, the first Indian woman to win two Olympic medals was all craft and determination. The queen of badminton is an inspirational icon for young girls while young boxer Lovlina Borgohain, in the mould of MC Mary Kom, proved to her rivals that she is not scared by reputation and displayed amazing aggression to win a bronze medal.
And now, to my favourite sport: Hockey. I watched more hockey matches than cricket games (right from the age of 10) till I started representing Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. I got hockey-hooked as my uncle Harcharan Singh was part of India’s 1975 World Cup-winning team and the Tokyo bronze medal thrilled me no end.
Indian hockey is on the up since the last 10-12 years. Many great players have contributed to where it is now, but to me Sardar Singh, played a major role. As captain, he inculcated in the players the importance of playing as a team, respecting and trusting each other. Mistakes were part of learning and growing as a team while maintaining one’s style and individual flair. The professional culture is being carried forward by captain Manpreet Singh and ably backed by that wall of hockey—PR Sreejesh.
Unfortunately, the women’s team missed out on a medal in Tokyo but their brave performance won many hearts in India. Vandana Katariya played a good hand in earning India their best Olympics show in women’s hockey and it was disgusting to read about casteist comments hurled at her family after the team lost in the semi-finals. Vandana is an icon for the next generation. Like the women’s hockey team, golfer Aditi Ashok, missed out on a medal and so did age-defying Mary Kom, 38. The one who caught my eye was discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, a farmer’s daughter from a village Kabarwala, Malot in Punjab. Kamalpreet finished sixth and with the right international exposure and training, is a sure-shot future champion.
The fantastic performance in Tokyo could be a turning point for sports in India, just like our 1983 World Cup cricket win. The smart administrators of the BCCI encashed on that win by roping in sponsors, marketing and promoting the game as well as spending on development in the right way. Those visionary efforts bore fruits. The successful BCCI template is there for other sports administrators to copy-paste and then most importantly, honestly implementing it. The BCCI has been magnanimous by announcing rewards for the Olympic medal winners.
India needs to spend on developing modern infrastructure, training manpower, upgrading fitness trainers and physiotherapists and sports medicine research. And of course, tapping talent and developing sports at the grassroots level. The time to start a genuine sporting revolution is now.
Balvinder Singh Sandhu was a member of India’s 1983 World Cup-winning team
Clayton Murzello’s Pavilion End column will be back next week
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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