Harsh Truth For Indian Sportspersons - If You Are Not A Cricketer, You Are Not Important. Tale Of The Forgotten Heroes

We all love an underdog, one who strives hard to win despite the obstacles in his path. But this story is played out each day in the world of sports that exists beyond cricket. A striking example is Neeraj Chopra, an Indian Track and field athlete, who has won gold at the Asian and Commonwealth games, and still finds it difficult to be heard. Chopra has spoken before about how he had to leave home at an early age of 14, abandoning his high school studies so he coul find a decent playground to practice. "I left home when I was 14, owing to lack of facilities. My formal education was disturbed after class 9. Athletes from Haryana are winning at the national, international and Olympic level but my village still does not have a playground,¡± said Chopra in an interview to an online paper.

¡°Whenever I stay there, I need to practice on a road. If we are to become an Olympian nation, every village should have a stadium and get coaches from the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, where I now train," he added.

Much like Neeraj, the tale of other performing athletes is no different, despite winning for the country they are forgotten in a trice.

The tale of the forgotten athlete is one we are all too familiar with. While India has high hopes and loves to celebrate for ¡®national pride¡¯ in the Olympics, they do not speak out for the athletes who are desperate for basic facilities, training and funding.

Neeraj Chopra/PTI

This has been the state of affairs, not only since a few years, but all the way back since India¡¯s first individual Olympic medal, won by Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav, for wrestling. His bronze medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics was the first for Independent India. This feat that still goes unnoticed was only repeated again after a full five decades later, by Karnam Malleswari, a bronze in weightlifting at the 2000 Games.

For Jadhav, life was tough, despite his achievement he struggled to lead a comfortable life. In 1955 he joined the police force as a sub-inspector. He won several competitions at national level and retired as an Assistant Commissioner in 1982, but had to fight for his pension. He was neglected by the sports federation and died in an accident in 1984. His wife was provided no financial assistance. A sad end indeed to a glorious life and career.

Khashaba Jadhav/Getty Images

And history seems to be on a loop, when it comes to sportsperson being ignored and left penniless. 67 years later is no different, our athletes continue to suffer even while they represent our country, and are later forgotten too easily.

While It is easy to blame cricket for overshadowing every other sport in the country, we need to hold sport federations responsible too for the lack of financial and infrastructural support for these players.

More recently, another athlete who should be revered but has instead been neglected is Shiva Keshavan. He has represented India at six Olympics in luge, and won four international gold and two bronze medals for India. Despite social media posts and news articles on his endeavours, Shiva has always still found it hard to garner financial support, and has even competed without a coach.

Shiva Keshavan/Getty Images

More recently, another athlete who should be revered but has instead been neglected is Shiva Keshavan. He has represented India at six Olympics in luge, and won four international gold and two bronze medals for India. Despite social media posts and news articles on his endeavours, Shiva has always still found it hard to garner financial support, and has even competed without a coach. He took part at the 2014 Winter Games, with help from money from crowdfunding on the internet. Over 50,000 people donated money to help Shiva travel and participate. Imagine this happening in any other country, where an internationally acclaimed player has to request fellow citizens for money to participate in an international competition to represent his own country!

Shiva is not alone, most award winning Indian athletes at the Olympics have neither government or federation's support, and have to live with almost zero facilities and funds for practice. Sprinter Sita Sahu who won two bronze medals at the 2011 Special Olympics in Athens, at the age of just 15-years-old. What should have been her first step en-route to becoming one of the best in the world, thanks to ignorance and apathy from the sporting federation and authorities. Sahu now sells gol gappe in Dhobiya Tanke in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh.

Sita Sahu/Getty Images

Despite all the national fervour, these sporting talents who hold the tricolour proudly in an Olympic event, and strive hard to live up to over million expectations are left wanting for basic respect and facilities is a failure of us as a sport loving nation.