Indian Sportsmen need our help
If one were to look into sporting achievements in the last two decades there are lot of Indians who have made it big at international level in various sports other than cricket. While some have achieved greatness others have inspite of having a brilliant start to their career failed to make it big and that is a cause for concern. If one were to look at the career records of Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza one can easily say that they should have achieved more in their careers than what they already have.
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi:- They literally had the world at their feet when they became the first pair in the history of tennis to make the finals of all four grand slams in a year when they made the finals of Australian, French, Wimbledon and U S Opens in 1999. They were ranked number one in the world in doubles and were given the nick name "Indian Express" on International Circuit. Inspite of having a great start and even though they have achieved a lot in their career by winning countless grand slams one must say that they could not have done a lot better and one reason whey they could not do better was that they could not cope up with the adulation, pressure from media and people. The fact tha Leander Paes was a proud personality further complicated matters for him
Another classic case is that of Sania Mirza who was doing exceptionally well when she came close to being ranked in the top 25. Saniareached a career high ranking of 27 and became the first ever Indian to reach the second round of a Grand Slam when she entered the second round of Australian Open and her performance made her have the second highest fan following after Serena Willaims. At the 2005 U S Open Championships Sania Mirza became the first ever Indian to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam Tournament. Sania Mirza earned a reputation of being one of the most feared players on the international circuit and had the distinction of being among the rare Indians to earn a direct entry to Grand Slam tournaments without having to play the qualifying rounds thanks to her high ranking. While Sania slid dramatically to be ranked well outside the top 100 primarily due to injuries there are other factors to be taken into consideration. There was too much of media pressure on Sania and even a loss which is something every sportsperson has to go through their careers was heavily criticized. There was too much of expectations from the people and they were never happy with whatever she achieved but they craved for something more.
In India people in general are satisfied when they do not expect from a sportsman and once when the sportsman reaches a level where he is capable of performing people tend to expect too much from that sportsman and that puts too much of pressure on the sportsman. Media actually plays a more destructive level where they take a sporting performance to extra ordinary levels and a failure to drastic levels. One sportsperson who has already achieved a lot is the current badminton star Saina Nehwal ranked number two in the world and is in the midst of a brilliant run. While Saina Nehwal definitely has the talent to become number one in the world and annex a few more titles she needs support from media and people in achieving her goals and the support which she is expecting from media and people is to allow her to play her own game without any pressure.
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