There is so much buzz about Vancouver winter olympics(VWO) which are planned to be held on February 12–28. In Japan media there is so much of talks about the players participating in the VWO. Was just checking the numbers, there are 95 players participating from Japan, 91 from China, 216 from US, to name few.
Quick search helped me to know that there are only 3 Indians participating. County like Iran has 4 players participating.
Details
1. Shiva Keshavan - 4th Olympics participation backed up by sponsors like Swissair, Limca Book of records, and Reebok
2. Tashi Lundup - employed by Indian Army in Gulmarg, Kashmir
3. Jamyang Namgyal - employed by Indian Army in Gulmarg, Kashmir
They are participating in 3 Categories out of 15 categories in Winter Olympics. Indians started participating in winter sports from 1988 with 1, 2 or 3 players till date.
There is still a big chance for Indian players participating in other categories too. This will of course require lot of infrastructure to be built. Also this will require corporate support to sponsor. Once we have the system in place of course we will have enthusiast players to participate into. In the country on 1 billion plus, just three players participating is really not enough. In the country where Cricket is the only poplar sport, options like these games can provide a good variety of sports for kids to opt for and also make name for country. Why not we can have IPL for winter sports ? If Dubai which is in midst of deserts can have a indoor skiing facility, what is stopping Indian Olympic Committee to start something like that and provide the facilities to players to prepare for such events. We can also make use of great Ski resorts which are picking up in India which are right now great tourist attractions. Also that is true for normal Summer Olympics. We also should start participating in world sports rather just concentrating on sports which have only local appeal.
What is your view on this ?
