Are Paralympics and Olympic Champions at Equal?
10th September, 2016 saw a stupendous flow of congratulatory messages all over the internet. After the historic win of Mariyappan Thangavelu (Gold) and Varun Bhati (Bronze) at the Maracana Stadium, the Indian subcontinent couldn’t have had a better a reason of rejoice.
Even when the country was still fanning over the memorable win of P V Sindhu’s Silver and Sakshi Malik’s Bronze, the Paralympics just doubled our pride. Deepa Malik set a new record by becoming the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal. She clinched Silver in Women’s Shot put Competition. Soon after, Devendra Jhajhariya also celebrated Gold in Men’s Javelin Throw setting a new Paralympic world record of 63.97 mts.
The Rio Olympics definitely brought together everyone in the same room for praises for not just our regular players but also disabled champions. The Paralympic champions are turning out to be more renowned and acknowledged than ever.
Super Performance Despite Problems
India is a cricket frantic country. People barely recognize its own Hockey players. Gaining recognition as a gymnast or an athlete was a distant dream. Games like Shot put and Javelin throw are scarcely known leave aside its players. For the paralympians, making it to the World stage in itself is a big triumph.
Being a sportsperson is tough in India. Being a physically disabled sportsperson is tougher. They face problems of improper infrastructure and lack of funds.
Interestingly, Paralympic champions have managed to get us the most out of the opportunity. Compared to Olympics, India gets more number of medals from Paralympics and Special Olympics. Ironically, the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) still stays an unrecognized body.
India sent its biggest ever contingent for the Rio Olympics 2016, but what we got in return was just 2 medals. In return, various bodies showered P V Sindhu with almost over Rs 10 Crores for a Silver. But Devendra received only about a crore for a sparkling Gold.
The differential behaviour is evident enough when there was nearly zero media coverage for Paralympics while the Olympics still held some television space.
As Cricket occupies most of the Indian market, the Olympians strive hard for attention. Likewise, Olympic medallists are more likely to overshadow its twin, the Paralympics. To pursue an unknown sport, hidden behind the cricket glamour and buzz, our special athletes are struggling their way to Gold. Utter negligence towards the needs of these athletes is our society’s disability.
What Lies Ahead
A surfeit of issues in the sporting system comes vis-a-vis after every poor performance of India in Sports. The issues like funds, training and infrastructure never end for sportspersons in India. But it is surely brave of our special Paralympians to conquer additional odds such as ill-treatment by officials and lack of medical facilities. They do it in accordance to their condition to represent the country with their calibre and bring back more than just medals.
The Paralympic champions are likely to receive additional funds for training and equipments. The Prime Minister Modi plans to launch a long-term plan to provide Indian athletes a much needed support system. The constitution of the Crack Team will chalk out for the upcoming 3 Olympic Games spanning over 12 years.
Their outstanding performances as compared to their Olympic counterparts have questioned the Government and the people of their appreciation for them. They are expectant of the much needed change in the country’s sporting scenario.
It will be interesting to watch the government strive to change the complete system of ignorance for sports in a country of Cricket and IITs.