Taekwondo Athlete Atul Raghav Slams Government by Calling players as Unfortunate for India

Atul Raghav is a professional taekwondo athlete. He is the youngest athlete who is represented India at grade ranking championships and won bronze medal.

Shivani
Published on: 10 Oct 2021 8:28 AM GMT
Taekwondo Athlete Atul Raghav Slams Government by Calling players as Unfortunate for India
X

Taekwondo Athlete Atul Raghav Slams Government by Calling players as Unfortunate for India

Though, India is a developing nation in the world and is promoting sports through various government schemes like khelo India but sports like Kabbadi, Taekwondo, Karate, Fencing etc are not developing and much recognised in India unlike cricket which is being worshipped as a religion. Let's us know why it's happening and we as a youth, how can we tackle this situation to improve the result of India in these sports.

Before starting with it, just have a glimpse of Who is Atul Raghav?

Atul Raghav is a professional taekwondo athlete. He is the youngest athlete who is represented India at grade ranking championships and won bronze medal. Recently, in conversation with greno news he opened up many things about sports industry.

In an interview, Indian Athlete Atul Raghav explained about the growth of sports in India. He told that "Indian sports are not in good shape except for cricket. Athletes do not receive adequate equipment from sports authorities to ensure proper learning for a particular sport in the country. Not many schools offer a good education. This reduces the chances of winning a medal at the Olympic Games."

He further said, I would not blame the people of the India for not recognising us as we need to make a revolution first, then things will change. Medals have the power to do that. One medal and the entire Nation knows you. But the main concern is, neither the media nor the officials praises and support for our achievements until we give a debut in any international or olympic event and this is the major drawback.

Atul being politically neutral held government responsible for this in many reasons:

Sports Authority Of India

Athletes do not receive financial support from the government when it is truly needed.

The best example for this would be the case of Dipa Karmakar at the Rio Olympics. The Sports Administration of India (SAI) refused to send her physiotherapist to the Rio Olympics while 65 Indian officials flew to Rio first class. They claimed a physiotherapist was "wasteful" and "unnecessary". Eventually, Dipa created history by becoming the first Indian to qualify for a final (top 8) in Olympic gymnastics.

Athletes do not have a constant source of income.

Another pivotal failure on the government's part is the incentive related policies for athletes. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra was the first Indian athlete to have ever won an individual Gold at the Olympics. Upon his historic achievement he was awarded prizes worth a total of 1.75 Crore by various governmental organisations.

However, in the years leading up to the Olympics, Abhinav was provided almost no support by the government and his family had to bear almost the entire cost of his training.

Atul slammed the government by saying, What is the point of rewarding a handful of athletes with millions of dollars after they have won medals? Instead, potential medal winners should be identified and have their training supported continuously, through several Olympic cycles.

Lastly, he concluded his statement with the statement: We as an athlete must focus on our goals and strive better everyday. And government should focus and work on more sports and support them financially. And as an audience, we should support and respect every athlete regardless of which sports they play.

Stay tuned with the newstrack to get fastest updates. Click @englishnewstrack to follow us on Facebook and @newstrackmedia to follow on Twitter.

Shivani

Shivani

Next Story