Sports : life magnified

Its a day which will see substitutes used for the first time in limitied overs internationals. It is also another day for the sprinters in letour. I focus my attention on some less publicised but important stories which are accomplishments in their own right from Indian sports.

First the new Government gun law which frees shooting in the country.

The order issued by the Union Commerce Ministry — makes air rifles and pistols, the rudimentary weapons for all beginners, easily accessible. So long, it was a procedure restricted to a few and bound in red tape. This comes as a big relief for the shooting fraternity for whom trying to own a weapon had been an ordeal. A shooter first needed to finish among the top 25 at a national meet and later — after endless paperwork — obtain an import licence to get a foreign-made weapon. Now, all one needs to do to own an air weapon is register with a rifle club or state/district association.

This is indeed a landmark step in Indian shooting. My musings on the apathy of infrastructure in Indian shooting a few days ago weren’t necessary after all. Shooting is progressing well in the country with moves done to draw the crowds and bring in more shooters as well. The future of atleast one sport is very bright in the country.

The Hindu reports on the National Junior Aquatics meet day four where Veerdhaval Khade of Maharashtra created two new records before emerging the fastest swimmer of the 32nd Junior National Aquatic Championship, which passed into the fourth day on Wednesday. And it is not the only place Indian juniors are doing well. India entered the semis of the Junior Hockey World Cup as well.

Prasad, an intellectually challenged child needs support in the form of sponsorship. It is a pity people arent aware of this more. If any one is reading this blog and can help Prasad, please contact Hindu, get in touch with the guy’s father and do the requisite.

Some thing which bewilders me : I have read The Sportstar magazine for 13-14 years now and take pride int he fact that it maintains the price of Rs. 10. Why the online edition for Rs. 90!?

Off for breakfast, and then work. Hopefully will catch the letour and the one day match.

After Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won the silver meadal in shooting in the double trap event, how could India, corporate and the sport overall, not capitalise on the event.

So Indians will find Rathore in an event labelled Top Gun telecast on television. Whether it will be live or delayed telecast, is not clear from what I have read.

It has been termed as an attempt to experiment to make the sport more popular with a new format and TV coverage.

Apart from the rule modifications, there is so much more in this event. So much more noise to be specific. As Rathore says on NDTV:

There is generally a pin drop silence at shooting events. But people cheering and clapping when shooting is going on increases the pressure. I was feeling nervous, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Events such as these will certainly boost the viewership of the sport in the country to a small extent. It is India’s own version of Twenty20 cricket! MP Lok Sabha Naveen Jindal says they would like to organise five to six events and increase the total number of events to 15 or 20.

I dont think viewership and the quality of sportsmen a country produces is correlated though. India has the largest viewing public in cricket by a mile. By that logic, India should be miles ahead of Australia as a cricket team. Viewership can lead to people following a sport and hopefully some of these viewers will start following the sport.

What I want to know, though, is what is being done to impove the infrastructure of the sport over all in the country and whether the young aspiring shooters are being given the proper encouragement, both financially and training opportunities wise. Having such events which end in Formula 1 style celebrations in the end are good for television and good to get more people to follow the sport. It is good for the sport only if the people following can get a chance to become the best if they desire to.