Why are Women sportspersons given shoddy treatment?

On 28th June, the Indian women’s hockey team became the first winners of the Women’s Champions Challenge II Cup when they beat Belgium 6-3 in the finals. With the kind of coverage given to the win, you know how high the national game played by women is in the Indian sports psyche. I did not read about it in the newspapers – I came to know about the fact in a negative display on one of the “entertainment news” channels – namely IndiaTV. The news was being portrayed in their typical loud style – stating that nobody was there to receive the winning Indian hockey team at the airport on their return! Such a tragedy, you have someone bring laurels to the nation and the visual and print media is going gaga over what Dhoni said after India LOST to West Indies in the second cricket one day international!

The women’s hockey team has won in spite of the shoddy treatment throughout – which began even before leaving Indian shores for Kazan in Russia. The Indian women's hockey team was unable to board a flight from Delhi airport to Russia on Wednesday night because officials forgot to organise a transit visa for the team members. As always the blame game has begun following the fiasco after the transit visa could not be organised for the team that was to fly to the Russian city Kazan via Frankfurt in Germany to play in the Champions Challenge. The team members flew to Russia a day later and had one less day for acclimatisation and training. After the flight a minimum of two days are required for recovery from jet lag and to get acclimatized and physically and mentally fit for a tough international tournament. The blame game began with Hockey India putting the blame squarely on their travel agents and the airlines. Of course the hockey officials do not have the knowledge or do not bother to find out for themselves the basic requirements of travel – they are there for the free trip! In spite of the demotivating manner in which they have been treated the team rose above all officially created problems to WIN the tournament.

Two Indian players got individual awards – Surinder Kaur got Player of the Tournament and Rani Rampal got Young Player of the Tournament as well as Tournaments Top Scorer award!

What a waste – we have winners having to travel home in taxi’s and rich non-performing, highly paid cricketers being put on a pedestal. Legislation should be passed to encourage sports having a global presence rather than encouraging a game played in a handful of nations even though it rakes in the moolah. In the alternative a percentage of the profits of the BCCI should be applied for funding and popularizing other widely played sports like, hockey, badminton, table tennis, basketball, etc.

Similarly, Saina Nehwal at the age of 19 has achieved far more than any of the cricketers or tennis players the nation has produced. But does she have any recognition – no. The girl is singularly dedicated to her sport and has a personal coach who encourages and goads her on to greater heights – but STATE SPONSORSHIP – that is a BIG NO! After winning the Indonesian Open, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh congratulated her, then it was Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) president Chiranjeevi who took out time to congratulate the Hyderabadi girl Saina Nehwal for bringing home the Indonesian Open title. Praising the shuttler for becoming the first Indian to win the Super series title; the actor turned politician said that immense talent and her victory was a morale booster for all the Indians. In a press released issued on Tuesday, Jun 23, Chiranjeevi hoped that the youngster would win more titles for the country. After Nehwal won the title for India, there were reports that the Badminton Association would be rewarding her with a cash price of 2 Lakhs. However there is no mention of this award after the initial stir.

The tragedy with our Nation, is we are too biased against women per se, else the Women’s Reservation Bill would have been passed – the attitude is women are good for the Home and Hearth but not elsewhere – the males fear giving too much leeway as they may be left far behind due to the dedication, perseverance and hard work that women today display. Our males – specially in government have become far too sycophantic, corrupt with lethargy having set in for them to change their way of life!