Skip to main content

WFI, Sushil Kumar, Narsingh Yadav - The Good, the bad and the unfortunate

The facts first..

1. Narsingh Yadav earned a quote for India by winning bronze in the Rome world cup in the 74 KG category.

2. Sushil Kumar, the two time Olympic medallist, was injured so he could not participate in the Rome World cup and could not get a quota for India

3. Sushil Kumar says, the quota is for India so there should be trials for Rio games and the person with the best chance for getting a medal for the country should go. He was gunning for gold in Rio and is desperate to participate

4. Wrestling Federation of India feels - there should be an incentive to get a quota by being automatically selected for the Olympics. This has normally happened in India and is also happening to the other wrestlers in other categories. WFI feels it will an unwise and unhealthy decision to break from the precedence.

5. Narsingh feels that it is his right to go to Rio, going by precedence

What does this mean...

1. Good: There is competition in 74 category. Which is a great sign. Wrestling in India has progressed well. 8-9 participants for Rio is a fabulous sign too. Good medal prospects.

2. Bad: One of the two wrestlers will feel they got a raw deal - irrespective of whatever happens.

3. Unfortunate: WFI is taking easy decisions, not decisions that will promote excellence and efficiency. The point we need to think of 'and' solutions and not 'or' solutions. We need to find a way to both incentivise wrestlers to get quotas plus try to ensure that the best bet to get a medal goes to the games. Are we saying that the hockey team which gave us the quota for Olympics will go, there will be no more selections/trials. A person is expected to do well in quota events because he is a professional (and other incentives - cash and non cash can be added); giving an Olympic berth may not be the only way to incentivise.  Twenty years down the line, when the competition will be hotter in India, it is inevitable the trials will be held - as there will be many claimants and the country will be hungry for gold not incentives for getting quotas. Trials have to start sometime -sooner or later. Why not now? As a country we must focus on excellence at all costs. It is unfortunate that WFI is missing the bus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dura Pahada Sundara [Far-away Mountains are Beautiful]

I realize how seriously we take a place we visit specifically to see it – an event in itself, and how much taken for granted are those places that we can hop in an out with regularity and ease. Interestingly I had never wrote or thought of writing about Puri or Konark or Cuttack. Places for which reams have been and can be written. The history, the culture, the cuisine and the local chutzpah [espl. Puri / Cuttack]. Even more interestingly, I have never pondered enough on these places and their unique niceties to have them simmering in my cerebral consciousness. They are somewhere deep there sedimented at best; and at [likely] worst, I do not have the desired ammunition to do justice to write anything substantial. Probably, I will have to resort to the frivolous flourish of the might of the language as a cover. A point to note - I have never seen the Bali Yatra [Cuttackis don’t faint please]. The Puri beach and temple I have always felt is my backyard [so had the taken for granted attit
4 comments
Read more

Foreign Universities in India: Boon or Bane?

    Dr. Partha S Mohapatra (Originally written in March, 2010)   The cabinet yesterday gave its nod to the “Foreign Universities Bill”. I first read the report on Wall Street Journal about the Indian Governments’ intention to open up the higher education sector to foreign universities [Delhi Seeks to Admit Foreign Universities,  Wall Street Journal June 11, 2009 ].  Subsequently, I read similar reports in other newspapers.  Most of the se reports make a compelling story to allow foreign universities to operate in India. The main argument that is made is on following premises: i)      It will save India about $4 billion in foreign exchange [“Leading foreign institutes may soon be here” Economic Times , 11 Sep 2006”]. ii)    India loses because of brain drain when brilliant people go abroad and study and stay there. iii)   We need foreign investments because the government does not have money needed to invest in higher education and private sector is unwilling
41 comments
Read more

Energising The Employability Magic Of Professional Education

The private engineering colleges and b-schools are going through another bad phase. The overcapacity, because of which many colleges are reeling under significant financial stress, is intriguing when seen against the backdrop of a modest Gross Enrollment Ratio. The reasons are quite straight forward, students enroll into professional education for jobs.  Starting from the mid-1990s, riding on an economy growing at a fast clip with the promise of dollar jobs students thronged the higher education professional courses. When the global economies plateaued and the Indian growth rate isn’t much better, job creation is poor and so also is the demand to join professional courses. The professional education institutes, must know that the role they need to play is to create industry worthy professionals. That needs to be the focus.  For the past 20 years, institutes have focussed on two areas – infrastructure and admission network. This strategy worked, when large organized businesses h
8 comments
Read more