A cup of steaming coffee on one side, excitement filling up every nook of the mind, and P.V. Sindhu’s signature smashes on the television screen- this is one of the many images of Olympic 2020 that will stay alive in my, and most Indians’, mind for a long while! It will not be an exaggeration to call this Indian women’s Olympic for reasons more than one. From Mirabai Chanu bagging a medal right on the first day to Lovlina Borgohain and P.V. Sindhu, women at this Olympic have brought glory and pride to the country. Even the women’s hockey match this morning smelled fresh of courage and hopes. These women scored three brilliant goals against the last Olympic gold medallists, and what needs to take from this match is these Indian women’s determination. After all, sports are not about nabbing medals or trophies solely. Their beauty also lies in the experience of playing and learning, in honing one’s skills simultaneously with saturating the viewers’ minds with enthusiasm. Sports teach us how to transform our hobby or passion into profession, completely commit ourselves to it, and actively pursue the same to perfection. One of the things I like most about sports, as a viewer though, is the immense power these possess to bring millions of minds together. On this exceptionally gloomy morning in Kolkata, the women’s hockey match could ensure hundreds and thousands of eyes remained glued to the television screens, cheering the players virtually from miles away. This is no less than a victory!
Mirabai Chanu, lifting up weights, wearing her silver medal at the Olympic and sporting a smile with the same comfort and ease, hails from a small village in the Indian state of Manipur. Hers has not been a rose-tinted tale of success. The hamlet she belongs to, Nongpok Kakching, is located so far from the Sports Academy in Imphal that it was difficult for her to cover this distance on foot regularly. Fortunately, enough, truckers carrying river sands to Imphal came to her recuse and offered her a lift every day for several years. Mirabai Chanu’s acknowledgement of the help the truckers extended to her and her gratitude for them has been more than overwhelming. This small personal anecdote has filled our eyes with tears. The sacrifices she has made even before her final performance at this Olympic by not having any food two days before the competition to maintain her weight corroborates the fact that these athletes have to give up on a lot of things to “achieve something big”, as Mirabai put it after winning the medal.
The nation is also basking in the glory of the boxer and bronze medallist at this Olympic, Lovlina Borgohain, and so is the sleepy little village Baromukhia in Assam where she hails from. Much like Mirabai, what Lovlina has known since a tender age is the stench of financial depravity, but it was their determination and perseverance that did not let their minds settle on what they did not have. They stood tall at the face of all odds and brought home what they have put their minds to. Her victory has also brought a promise of development to her village. Her father is all set to shower his twenty-three-year-old daughter with all his love and treat her to a celebratory meal of fried pork.
P.V. Sindhu, on the other hand, was born to professional volleyball players and eventually found herself drawn towards badminton. Breaking into the top twenty of the BWF World Ranking in 2012, she has never had to look back. One of the medal hopes for India, Sindhu’s defeat at the semi-final match was devastating. Born to be a success, Sindhu did not succumb to this defeat. Enthused by her coach Park Tae-sang, she won a literally ‘smash’ing victory in the match against China’s He Bingjiao.
But it will be erroneous to comment that only these medallists have given us a testimony to their talents. Mary Kom, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Kamalpreet Kaur, Deepika Kumari, among many other Indian women at this Olympic, have shown, once again, that sports can be of women and for everyone as well. What they harbour is an indomitable spirit.
There is nothing to stop them if they set their minds to the things they want to ace!
