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Image Courtesy: ■ Shattered Dreams
Indian Luger and five time Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan has opted out of the World Luge Championships owing to lack of funds. It was a question of able to taking care of his family or participating in Winter Olympics. Keshavan is a five time winter Olympian who had appealed to the Sports Ministry and the Prime Minister for assistance but in vain. Keshavan has an illustrious track record in Luge where he has been a podium finisher in various international events including 2 Gold medals in the Asian Cup and first Indian to qualify for Winter Olympics.
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Image Courtesy: ■ Cricket And The Rest
We as a society and our elected government have let down various other sportsmen from other sports. Our obsession to cricket has resulted in many other sports not getting the deserved attention, investment, infrastructure and sponsors resulting in dismal conditions these sportsmen have to go through. Despite the challenges, these sportsmen have put up a spirited show. Some of the instances where sportsmen and women of India have been at the receiving end of dismal treatment.
Lack of funds forces 5-time Olympian out of World Championships! Govt needs to recognize and support these heroes now. #SupportShivaKeshavan
— Aryan Saxena (@AryanSaxena03) January 22, 2016
1.) Winter Olympics – Where two athletes were in a situation who could not afford to get imported high quality winter clothing and thereby in a situation where they could not participate.
2.) Disabled Athletes – Disabled athletes were given lodging and accommodation which did not have basic sanitation and water facilities forcing them to sleep on the floor and defecate in the open.
3.) Kabbadi Team – India’s women kabbadi team were made to take auto rickshaws after having won the world cup in 2011. Compare this with how cricketers would be treated.
4.) A number of promises made by the government to provide government jobs and prize money have not been fulfilled.
Image Courtesy: allsport | Rashmita Patra represented India in the Asian Football Confederation, now runs a betel nut shop for living.
Image Courtesy: ■ An Appeal
The Logical Indian appeals to the entire community to spread the word to give equal importance to other games, the more we give importance to other sports, the better the sponsorships will be for that game. As you might know, sponsorships is all about visibility, if we as viewers give other games the visibility, there are enough sportsmen who will make our country proud. We appeal to the government to increase the budgetary allocations to sports, invest in better infrastructure.
