Thank You Sachin for 100 hundreds. Thank You for close to 35,000 runs.
Thank You for all the wins. Thank You for that six off Shoaib Akhtar.
Thank You for Desert Storm. Thank You for lifting the spirit of nation
at Chennai after 26/11. Thank You for that century against Kenya you
made just days after your father's death. Thank You for 2003 and 2011 World Cups. Thank You for demolishing one the
best bowlers of our times: Shane Warne. Thank You for all those timely
wickets you took. Thank You for Cape Town, Sydney and Leeds. Thank You
for Gwalior and Hyderabad. Thank You for giving us hope that
till you are there no match is lost. Thank You for everything. You are a role model for so many persons. But, sadly, according to me, you dont deserve to be the First sportsperson to be given Bharat Ratna.
Does Sachin deserve Bharat Ratna? Yes. No doubts about that. But, does he deserve it more than Vikram Sarabhai, Homi Bhabha, Satyendranath Bose, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Verghese Kurien, Norman Borlaug, M S Swaminathan, Sam Manekhsaw, K M Cariappa, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan? Even if we restrict our criteria to only sportspersons is his contribution and achievements more than those of Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, Leslie Claudius, Uddham Singh, Milkha Singh? Even if we restrict criteria further to only modern sportspersons what about PT Usha, Vishwanathan Anand, Leander Paes, Dhanraj Pillay, and Mary Kom?
Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, Leslie Claudius and Uddham Singh represent the only era when we were truly world champions in an Olympic sport. It was the era when we were Olympic champions for 32 straight years, won 8 Olympic Golds, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze. Our only other Olympic medal till 1996 was K D Jadhav's bronze in Wrestling in 1952 (not counting Norman Pritchard's 2 Silvers). At a time, when India was seen as a land of snake charmers and rope climbers, these players broke the stereotypes and showed the world what India is capable of. They are legends of not just India but of the sport itself. Before 2012 Olympics, when London tube stations were named after great Olympians, 6 were chosen from Hockey and 3 of them were Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh and Leslie Claudius. The reasons given for not awarding them Bharat Ratna are they are from a distant past, Nobody remembers them, Such awards should not be given posthomously. The very fact that they are forgotten makes the award necessary. Also, many persons have been given awards posthomously. Sardar Patel, Ambedkar, Maualan Azad had also passed away years before they were honoured. We could also give it to Dhanraj Pillay (according to me, the last of the long list of Indian hockey wizards) partly for his excellent play and partly in memory of those players, like Nobel committee did when they acknowledged their mistake in not giving it to Gandhiji while awarding Peace prize to Dalai Lama.
If we consider only the athletic career of P T Usha, then also she has achieved enough to deserve Bharat Ratna. She was the best Indian athlete for a decade. She won medals at international level and dominated proceedings at Asian level. If this was not enough, after retirement, she has been running a very successful academy. Her academy has already produced talents like Tintu Luka and Dutee Chand. Her exemplary contribution to the sport not only spans over 3 decades but is also an integral part of a better future for Indian athletics.
Vishwanathan Anand became India's first Grand Master in 1988. Today, when he is playing for his sixth world title match, we have 34 GMs and are ranked 8th by FIDE in country rating. Instead of repeating why I feel he is the best in world, I would just like to share what I wrote when he defeated Kramnik for his third Championship and first in Classical Matchplay. Since then, he has won two more Championships and inspired even more people.
Leander Paes is another player who is much underrated. Agreed he is not a great Singles player, not even the best Indian Singles player. But, he is the only Indian tennis player with Olympic medal, India's only second Olympic individual medal winner and that too after a gap of 44 years, and he did it in Singles. Along with Mahesh Bhupathi, he has been among the World's best in Doubles for close to 15 years. He has won a Grand Slam in three different decades. He has won a total of 14 Grand Slam titles. While playing for India in Davis Cup, he has given scare (Jonas Bjorkman, Petr Korda, Marcelo Rios, Greg Rusedski) and even defeated players (Wayne Ferreira, Henri Leconte, Goran Ivanisevic, Jiri Novak) ranked much higher than him in Singles, which is not his strong point. He (along with Bhupathi) have inspired the next generation of Indian tennis players, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambhri, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna, Vishnu Vardhan, Raja Purav, Dvij Sharan and worked towards ensuring our future in tennis is in safe hands.
Mary Kom has won the World Championships 5 times. Last year when Women's Boxing was being introduced in Olympics, AIBA chose her as the ambassador for the sport. Such is her standing at World level. She won Bronze even though she moved up a weight class to compete in Olympics. It is mainly due to her, that India is considered a powerhouse in Women's boxing. We are 3rd in consolidate medal table for World Championships since 2001. And she did all this without any media attention or much support from Government or association.
One of the main reasons that is given for not awarding Bharat Ratna to Anand (Mary Kom and Paes are not even being considered by many) is that Anand is still playing. Fair point. But, if active players can be given other state awards (Padma Awards), if active players can be given Rajya Sabha seats (Sachin Tendulkar), if active players can contest elections (Krishna Poonia), then why draw the line at Bharat Ratna. This demand of retirement is not there for Bharat Ratna in other categories. If being active sportsperson is a strict no-no for Bharat Ratna, then will Sachin's Bharat Ratna be suspended, if he decides to make a comeback like Jordan or Schumacher?
When Sachin started playing cricket, it was already well established in India. We had won a World Cup. He had the guidance of Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Amarnath, Pataudi, Vishwanath, among others when he started. He had the company of Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble while playing. He had a fairly decent board to take care of the small things. He didn't had to go looking for sponsors to participate in tournaments. Agreed that because of his popularity, he was also the only one who carried the hope of the entire nation when he played but he also had good help to cope with it.
There is a feeling among majority of the sports fans and non-cricket players, that in India, sports = cricket. This award sadly reinforces the same. And then we wonder, why we don't win Olympic medals.
Sorry Dhyan Chand.
Jai Hind
Does Sachin deserve Bharat Ratna? Yes. No doubts about that. But, does he deserve it more than Vikram Sarabhai, Homi Bhabha, Satyendranath Bose, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Verghese Kurien, Norman Borlaug, M S Swaminathan, Sam Manekhsaw, K M Cariappa, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan? Even if we restrict our criteria to only sportspersons is his contribution and achievements more than those of Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, Leslie Claudius, Uddham Singh, Milkha Singh? Even if we restrict criteria further to only modern sportspersons what about PT Usha, Vishwanathan Anand, Leander Paes, Dhanraj Pillay, and Mary Kom?
Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh, Leslie Claudius and Uddham Singh represent the only era when we were truly world champions in an Olympic sport. It was the era when we were Olympic champions for 32 straight years, won 8 Olympic Golds, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze. Our only other Olympic medal till 1996 was K D Jadhav's bronze in Wrestling in 1952 (not counting Norman Pritchard's 2 Silvers). At a time, when India was seen as a land of snake charmers and rope climbers, these players broke the stereotypes and showed the world what India is capable of. They are legends of not just India but of the sport itself. Before 2012 Olympics, when London tube stations were named after great Olympians, 6 were chosen from Hockey and 3 of them were Dhyan Chand, Roop Singh and Leslie Claudius. The reasons given for not awarding them Bharat Ratna are they are from a distant past, Nobody remembers them, Such awards should not be given posthomously. The very fact that they are forgotten makes the award necessary. Also, many persons have been given awards posthomously. Sardar Patel, Ambedkar, Maualan Azad had also passed away years before they were honoured. We could also give it to Dhanraj Pillay (according to me, the last of the long list of Indian hockey wizards) partly for his excellent play and partly in memory of those players, like Nobel committee did when they acknowledged their mistake in not giving it to Gandhiji while awarding Peace prize to Dalai Lama.
If we consider only the athletic career of P T Usha, then also she has achieved enough to deserve Bharat Ratna. She was the best Indian athlete for a decade. She won medals at international level and dominated proceedings at Asian level. If this was not enough, after retirement, she has been running a very successful academy. Her academy has already produced talents like Tintu Luka and Dutee Chand. Her exemplary contribution to the sport not only spans over 3 decades but is also an integral part of a better future for Indian athletics.
Vishwanathan Anand became India's first Grand Master in 1988. Today, when he is playing for his sixth world title match, we have 34 GMs and are ranked 8th by FIDE in country rating. Instead of repeating why I feel he is the best in world, I would just like to share what I wrote when he defeated Kramnik for his third Championship and first in Classical Matchplay. Since then, he has won two more Championships and inspired even more people.
Leander Paes is another player who is much underrated. Agreed he is not a great Singles player, not even the best Indian Singles player. But, he is the only Indian tennis player with Olympic medal, India's only second Olympic individual medal winner and that too after a gap of 44 years, and he did it in Singles. Along with Mahesh Bhupathi, he has been among the World's best in Doubles for close to 15 years. He has won a Grand Slam in three different decades. He has won a total of 14 Grand Slam titles. While playing for India in Davis Cup, he has given scare (Jonas Bjorkman, Petr Korda, Marcelo Rios, Greg Rusedski) and even defeated players (Wayne Ferreira, Henri Leconte, Goran Ivanisevic, Jiri Novak) ranked much higher than him in Singles, which is not his strong point. He (along with Bhupathi) have inspired the next generation of Indian tennis players, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambhri, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna, Vishnu Vardhan, Raja Purav, Dvij Sharan and worked towards ensuring our future in tennis is in safe hands.
Mary Kom has won the World Championships 5 times. Last year when Women's Boxing was being introduced in Olympics, AIBA chose her as the ambassador for the sport. Such is her standing at World level. She won Bronze even though she moved up a weight class to compete in Olympics. It is mainly due to her, that India is considered a powerhouse in Women's boxing. We are 3rd in consolidate medal table for World Championships since 2001. And she did all this without any media attention or much support from Government or association.
One of the main reasons that is given for not awarding Bharat Ratna to Anand (Mary Kom and Paes are not even being considered by many) is that Anand is still playing. Fair point. But, if active players can be given other state awards (Padma Awards), if active players can be given Rajya Sabha seats (Sachin Tendulkar), if active players can contest elections (Krishna Poonia), then why draw the line at Bharat Ratna. This demand of retirement is not there for Bharat Ratna in other categories. If being active sportsperson is a strict no-no for Bharat Ratna, then will Sachin's Bharat Ratna be suspended, if he decides to make a comeback like Jordan or Schumacher?
When Sachin started playing cricket, it was already well established in India. We had won a World Cup. He had the guidance of Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Amarnath, Pataudi, Vishwanath, among others when he started. He had the company of Ganguly, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble while playing. He had a fairly decent board to take care of the small things. He didn't had to go looking for sponsors to participate in tournaments. Agreed that because of his popularity, he was also the only one who carried the hope of the entire nation when he played but he also had good help to cope with it.
There is a feeling among majority of the sports fans and non-cricket players, that in India, sports = cricket. This award sadly reinforces the same. And then we wonder, why we don't win Olympic medals.
Sorry Dhyan Chand.
Jai Hind
