After a nerve wracking final, when the wild pendulum finally swung in its favor, India became the first world Twenty20 champions. People flocked into the streets to celebrate the success of the ‘Men In Blue’ and started worshiping them all over again.
Accolades apart there was money raining on those cricketers who were part of the Indian cricket team’s glorious triumph. After the victory, state governments made rich promises to honor cricketers hailing from their respective states, the Civil Aviation minister announced out of turn promotion and free travel for the team members. BCCI president Sharad Pawar declared an award of $2 million for team India and one crore rupees was announced for Yuvraj Singh for hitting 6 sixes in an over in the latest format of the game. Dhoni has been conferred the title of ‘Jharkhand Ratna’ recently.
On the other end of the spectrum stands the Indian hockey team. No media recognition or showers of money, despite their brilliant performance at the Asia cup. So the recent outburst of some of the hockey players and their coach Joaquin Carvalho is justified to an extent. “The Poor cousins” appears to have become the persistent idea in Indian sports when other sportsmen are denied the status, accolades and awards bestowed on cricketers.
It is indeed a pity on Indian Hockey that even after a win in the Asia cup the players got hardly a lakh of rupees. Although the Asia cup is not the same as the World cup, we should not forget that hockey is our national sport and its glorious past is incomparable.
It would suffice if the government displays its affection and appreciation by way of citations. If there is still a compelling urge, then let them pay out of their party funds in addition to the BCCI,ICL,sponsors and others.
The bottom line is that, the time has come not only to create conditions for other sports to emerge from the shadows of cricket; but also to treat every spoting achievement according to its merit and give due recognition.
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