New Delhi: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday rued that people in India, including some of his colleagues in Parliament, have limited understanding of sports and emphasised on the need to create a sports culture in the country.
Rijijiu was amazed that his colleagues felt that people like Jyoti Kumari, Kambala jockey Srinivas Gowda and Rameshwar Gurjar -- who became social media sensation -- were Olympic prospects.
Jyoti Kumari had cycled down from Gurugram to Bihar, carrying her ailing father amid the COVID-19 pandemic and Karnataka's Gowda was claimed to have run 100m in about 11 seconds.
"Knowledge in Indian society about sports is very minimum. I don't want to degrade my own colleagues but even in Parliament there is no knowledge," Rijiju said during the online launch of High Performance leadership programme organised by ELMS Sports Foundation and Abhinav Bindra Foundation.
"Everybody knows about cricket, the English people have put that in our mind. They play the game and we had to beat them. But other than that, there is no knowledge, all just want gold medal."
In May, the 15-year-old Kumari hit national headlines after she cycled down 1200 km from Gurugram to her native place in Bihar in eight days with her father. She was offered a trial by the Cycling Federation of India, which she turned down.
Talking about Kumari, Rijiju said: "There was this young girl who under very difficult circumstances during this COVID-19 pandemic carried her father on a cycle from Gurgaon to Bihar. It was a tragic thing but imagine some of my colleagues said she will bring gold medal for India in cycling.
"See how lack of knowledge makes people think like this, without knowing what are the formats of cycling and what standards you have to reach to win gold medal in Olympics, just pouring of information will not do."
Earlier, Gowda and Madhya Pradesh's Gurjar also became social media sensations for their running exploits in the slushy and dusty fields and were eventually called for trials.
Gowda was believed to have completed 100m sprints in about 11 seconds and was dubbed by some in social media as the next Usain Bolt, the Jamaican multiple Olympic gold medallist sprinter.
"There was also a case in Karnataka, a bullock cart running competitions where there was somebody called Srinivas. For a better traction so that people don't feel we are not aware of the situation, our SAI people had invited him," Rijiju said.
"... I was told he was not fit for a world class sprinter but that is not important. People started saying that we have got a man who is faster than Olympic champion Usain Bolt. We have to identify talent but look at the lack of knowledge, people don't know."
He also stressed on the lack of sports culture in the country, saying there is a need to change the entire sporting atmosphere to ensure that India win more gold medals at the Olympics.
"What was bothering me all these years is why we are not able to create a sports culture in India. Abhinav Bindra got the gold at Beijing. In Moscow, our Indian men's hockey team won a gold medal. It generates celebration but there is no collective effort to have more such momentous occasions," he said.
"India definitely has a sporting tradition but unfortunately we don't have a sports culture. It has been so many years since Bindra got the gold. Fortunately, since 1996 Olympics we have not drawn a blank in medal tally but it is not a good sight for a country of India's size."
"We have to change the entire atmosphere in the country to ensure that such moments come more often. We can't afford to have just one or two icons, to be celebrating one or two medals."
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Jaipur, Mar 28: Young Riyan Parag showed why he is considered a precocious talent as he struck a stunning 84 not out off 45 balls to set up a 12-run win for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Capitals in their IPL match here on Thursday.
Sent in to bat, RR were reduced to 36 for 3 in the eighth over but the 22-year-old Parag single-handedly took the home side to 185 for 5 with a magnificent unbeaten knock studded with seven fours and six sixes.
Parag, who was promoted to number 4 by the team management this season and made 43 in the previous match, took 25 runs off veteran South African pacer Anrich Nortje with scores of 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 1 in the final over to hit his highest T20 score.
Chasing 186 for a win, DC could only manage 173 for 5 in 20 overs though South African youngster Tristan Stubbs (44 not out off 23 balls) kept them in the hunt till the final over from which they needed 17 runs.
Avesh Khan conceded just four runs to help RR win their second consecutive match.
South African pacer Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets apiece to also contribute in the RR win.
"Definitely disappointed. The best thing to do from here is to learn from it. The bowlers did well through the 15-16 overs. But the batters did well at the death, hopefully we do better in the next game," DC skipper Rishabh Pant said.
DC were reduced to 34 for 2 in the fourth over with Burger taking two wickets in three balls in a fine display of fast bowling.
Burger, who was brought in as Impact Sub for Shimron Hetmyer, dismissed opener Mitchell Marsh (23 off 12 balls) and Ricky Bhui (0) in the fourth over.
DC captain Rishabh Pant came out to bat at the fall of Bhui's wicket and along with senior batter David Warner built the innings without taking too much risk. Delhi were 89 for 2 at the halfway stage.
Warner was the more aggressive one as he got the boundaries to keep DC in the hunt. The senior Australian batter fell one run short of his fifty courtesy a brilliant diving catch by Sandeep Sharma off the bowling of Avesh in the 12th over.
Warner and Pant were involved in a crucial 67-run partnership for the third wicket.
Playing in his 100th IPL match and 14 months after a horrible car crash, Pant tried to build the innings with occasional boundaries. But he got out for a 26-ball 28 as Chahal induced a faint lower edge for Sanju Samson to do the rest behind the stumps in the 14th over.
The asking rate shot up to more than 13 runs an over and DC needed 66 from the last five overs.
Stubbs kept DC in the game with two consecutive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 17th over, but in the end the Delhi side were short by 12 runs.
They needed 34 runs from the final two overs which they could not get. It was DC's second consecutive loss.
Earlier, Parag shared 54 and 52 runs respectively with Ravichandran Ashwin (29) and Dhruv Jurel (20) after RR made a shaky start.
Royals captain Samson struck three consecutive boundaries in the fourth over bowled by pacer Mukesh Kumar before nicking a Khaleel Ahmed delivery two overs later to Pant to get out for 15.
RR were 30 for 2 by then as Mukesh had given DC their first breakthrough with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal (5).
The Royals were in more trouble after wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav literally forced his captain Pant to take a review, which later proved to be successful, to dismiss Englishman Jos Buttler for an LBW decision.
Ashwin came out to bat at number five and he lofted a Kuldeep delivery for a six to help RR reach 58 for 3 at halfway stage. He gave Nortje even a harsher treatment with two sixes in the next over that yielded 15 runs.
Ashwin, however, holed out to Tristan Stubbs near the boundary ropes for a 19-ball 29.
Parag then made his presence felt, striking two boundaries and a six off Ahmed to take RR past 100 in the 15th over.