The Indian women's football team just won its 5th straight SAFF Championship title. The ladies secured a 3-1 victory over hosts Nepal to seal the deal.
India has also extended their unbeaten run to 23 games in the tournament. Dalima Chhibber, Grace Dangmei and Anju Tamang found the back of the net.
Now of course this is a great moment for us. But want to know the sad reality? Well, the truth is it has sort of gone under the radar. Why? Because the country is braced for the upcoming elections and the focus is pretty much there. Who will come to power or who will stay in power, these are the questions.
Of course it is only natural, but a tragedy from a sports perspective that we failed to notice this victory. Had this win a cricket match or maybe European football, it would not have escaped our attention.?
Just to be clear, we are not dissing the elections. They are important. It's just that we need to come out of the cricket culture and embrace other sports. It took our men's team skipper to appeal to the public and only then did we respond. Do the woman have to do the same?
This is a great achievement and these players deserve our respect. How many of us even knew that the tournament was taking place? Only a handful. How to make up for it? By not letting such feats slide under the radar and keep an eye out. These people represent the country, the least we can do is acknowledge their success in our name.