Chachu's column #14: Of Role Models and Roads Ahead
As Indian contingent struggles it out at Busan Asiad, and as medals come
only in a trickle, a peep in the history of Indian sports provides hope
for the future. Providing this hope is an array of ex-players, who had excelled
in their respective discipline in the yesteryears, and who now strive to
make future world champions for India. Two such stars that deserve special
mention are the former Badminton World Champion Prakash Padukone and the
Golden Girl P.T. Usha.
Prakash Padukone is arguably the greatest Badminton player India has ever
produced. Prakash was the national champion for most of the nineteen seventies.
But it was in the year of 1980 that he found his Midas touch when he won
the All England Badminton Championships, thereby becoming the first Indian
to do so. In the very next year, Padukone won the World Cup also. While Padukone
could not repeat such performances, he remained one of India's best Sporting
stars in the early eighties. After his retirement, Prakash felt a strong
urge to continue his legacy and produce more stars for the country. From
his dreams and aspirations took birth the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy
(PPBA). Established in 1994 at Bangalore, the Academy has now become a full-fledged
sports school. It takes care of all necessities of the trainees offering
them boarding, lodging, coaching, equipment and other requirements. The selection
is based on merit and is done mainly for the young age group. The endeavor
is to catch them young so that the trainees become future Padukone. The
effort proved to be truly worthwhile when one of the protégé
of the Academy, P. Gopichand, won the All England Badminton Championship
in 2001. (Ironically, amongst this success story there lies that prototypal
Indian phenomenon of bureaucratic interference and politics in sports. While
Asian Games is currently underway, it is reported that Gopichand is still
waiting for official clearance so that he can take part in the Asian Games
and bring laurels for the country).
On similar lines, India's Golden Girl P. T. Usha too has opened Usha School
of Athletics at Koyilandy, in Kerala's Kozhikode district. Her ambition
is see an Indian on the victory podium of the 2008 Olympic Games. (Her desire
to see an Indian win an Olympic medal stems from her own failure to win
the bronze medal at Los Angeles Olympics (1984) by one- hundredth of a second.
The disappointment at the Olympics, which was in some sense a landmark for
Indian sports, was actually her biggest regret in a sporting career spanning
fifteen long years. )
Like her sporting career, building the School was not without heartburns
and severe perseverance. Usha sought help from various quarters, including
government bodies, large corporates and celebrities. Many refused but few
did help. Eventually, the dream bore fruit and the School commenced operation
in May, 2002. The initial set of trainees includes young children in their
pre-teens or early teens. The school bears all the expenses the cost of
all students. Efforts are made to ensure that money does not play spoil-sport
in the success of a potential superstar, many of whom leave sports for commercial
and other considerations. When complete, the Usha School of Athletics will
have with an eight lane 400 metre track, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a
school, an office and hostel accommodation for the students. Help and financial
support is now coming from various quarters. Thanks to Usha's determination,
Indian athletics is looking a new future, whose first chapter is being written
by the golden girl who burnished India's image in the international athletics
arena during her time.