prasad1
Active member
Our hockey players came to bare rooms with just bean bags at the start of the 2016 Rio Olympics. But then that was the fault of the Rio organizers. However during an Independence Day function at the Indian Embassy, our players skipped the Games Village dinner to make it to the event.At the embassy our players were shocked that they would be served no dinner and had to make do with peanuts. If you think that’s shameful then wait to hear this. At marathons, the organizers give water every 8kms, while the country desks do so every 2.5kms.
By Sunil Rajguru Images: AP, Reuters
At marathons, the organizers give water every 8kms, while the country desks do so every 2.5kms.Guess what our national marathon champion OP Jaisha was met with? Empty India desks throughout the marathon! That meant that meant that Jaisha did not even have enough water to drink and was severely dehydrated during an Olympic race. That’s downright humiliating.If we treat our competitors shabbily today, how will they become champions tomorrow?
Hello, women power began ages ago!
A lot of people are suddenly proud of our female sportspersons and point to a new era beginning at the Rio Olympics 2016 thanks to their commendable performances. That is a bit unfair on those who have been performing well even before Rio.
The truth is that they have really upped the game and this has been happening for more than a decade now. For example how many women got an Olympic medal from 1900-96? The answer is a zero.
That jinx was broken by Karnam Malleswari way back in 2000 when she got a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and she was our only medal winner then. Then our first real superstar was Mary Kom.
She won five straight gold medals at the World Amateur Boxing Championships from 2002- 10. However there was no boxing in the Olympics for women during that period! When it was finally introduced in 2012, it was only in three weight categories as against ten for men.
An ageing Mary Kom increased her weight to qualify and still managed a bronze. Around that time the Phogat sisters were taking the world by storm and opening wide India’s field of women wrestling.
Image tweeted by Sakshi Malik
Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumari and Vinesh Phogat all got Commonwealth gold medals. While we have had many male badminton stars, Saina Nehwal became our first world No. 1, quite commendable in such a competitive global sport. She has 22 titles and won a bronze in the 2012 Olympics.
It is true that Sania Mirza couldn’t do much in the singles, but she re-invented her tennis doubles career. In Grand Slam tennis, she has three doubles titles and three in mixed doubles.
Also many feats get buried because women’s sports don’t get much media coverage. Even before Rio 2016, there was no shortage of icons in women’s sports and PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar are merely the latest additions to all of the above.
Has Sindhu created a world record in prize money?A report came on how much each gold medallist gets from every country. The highest was Singapore with approximately $0.75 million. That way the combined prize money of badminton silver medallist PV Sindhu has already touched Rs 13.6 crore from all sources! (The highest in that amount is Rs 5 crore by the Telangana government).
Now that amount when converted is close to $2 million! So has Sindhu created a record for the highest amount won for a single Olympic medal? (Definitely for a silver medal).
In the past there are many horror stories of Asian and Commonwealth Games medal winners living a life of absolute penury. That way, things are much better off today. Today sportspersons can earn much more money and have better employment opportunities after retirement.In their case all this extra money is good for then they can totally concentrate on their sporting career.
Read more at: http://www.sify.com/sports/olympic-...es-imagegallery-5-olympics-qiwo6ehagbide.html
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