| The world's greatest sporting spectacle is unfolding in
France, driving billions into a frenzy of supercharged excitement and flag-waving, singing
patriotism. And we Indians, of course, aren't there. As every Indian will admit, deep down
inside, even Tendulkar's pyrotechnics are poor compensation for not being a part of the
soccer World Cup. Everyone else is there. Even South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Whereas
India, which was one of Asia's best football nations till as late as the 1950s, is ranked
115th in the world today. It's the same
depressing also-ran scenario in every sport. We might rant and rave at being done in by
foreign referees -- as we routinely do after every hockey defeat -- and fret and fume
about how changing rules and power games put our artistry at a disadvantage. But as
Associate Editor Rohit Brijnath tells you in our cover story, the sporting world has
changed. India, mired in a bog of outdated sporting techniques and petty politicking by
ignorant sports administrators, has not. "Modern sport is all about one thing: power.
Unfortunately, not the power that our sports administrators constantly crave," says
Brijnath, who waded through reams of statistics and spoke to experts worldwide to document
how and why Indians have fallen hopelessly behind in the race for speed and strength.
Illustrating the story was as challenging as reporting it. Brijnath worked closely with
Senior Art Director Ashutosh Sapru, who rummaged through hundreds of photographs,
digitally cut out the final selections and created the montages of sportsmen to get the
story up and running. Now if only we could do that to Indian sport.
(Aroon Purie) |
