The Unjust Life of an Indian Sportsman

*Not an article purely based on cricket, influenced by the ongoing Rio Olympics 2016* 

 In a cricket savvy nation such as India, sports such as hockey (national game), badminton, tennis etc. don’t count for much. In fact, so much so that most of the contributions are met with dry acceptance or are totally overlooked. The BCCI (Board of Cricket Control for India) is the richest cricket board, with a net worth of almost 320 crore rupees per year. That is incentive enough to become a cricketer. The earning of a basic cricketer amounts to 25 lakh per year without having to play any match. Each match fee ranges from 2 to 7 lakhs.

The salaries for other people are vastly different. Top Hockey players are paid an average of 25000 per match which amounts to around 3 lakh per year. Athletes who take part in the Olympics earn as little as 75000 per tournament and a yearly salary of 1 lakh. Most of these sportsmen have to resort to doing part time jobs in order to keep up with their daily expenditures. Every year 5,000 of renowned Indian athletes are stripped of their salaries and are compelled to do menial jobs.

Yogeshwar Dutt and Milkha Singh

Everyone will talk about India losing an ODI match to Bangladesh but no one will talk about Vishvanathan Anand losing to Carlsen or Sania Mirza winning the Mixed Doubles title. It is disappointing that people know KL Rahul, but not Shivani Kataria (India's first female Olympic swimmer) or Jitu Rai. While cricketers party hard, and are always in the news; the other sportsman live a life of agony and strive for acceptance and respect not only among the immediate Indian fans but also among the general public. An athlete’s life is generally characterised by toil and determination. A cricketer’s life includes luxury. A cricketer has a hard job no doubt, but his single earnings in an IPL tournament is enough for his earnings for at  least 3 years. Just recently, the Indian Ice Hockey team didn’t even have enough money to register for a tournament, a meagre amount of 1 lakh required which is the money an Indian cricketer gets after playing one T20 match.

Being a cricketer is as difficult as being any other sportsman. So why the added incentive? And why the granted disadvantages? Its almost as if discuss throwers, wrestlers, boxers and even Olympic Medalists are unknown and ignored here. Not only are the wages and facilities bare minimum as compared to cricketers, these ‘mediocre’ athletes don’t even have the proper resources to even practice their skills, let alone hone them. Satnam Singh, the latest prodigy and thankfully well known sportsman in India, didn’t even have a basketball court in his village let alone the necessary equipment. Most of the Indian Olympic and Commonwealth athletes don’t even get a chance to practice in the stadiums until a month before the tournament actually start. Most of our sport teams apart from the obvious ones (hockey, tennis, football) remain strapped for cash.

A very important question arises. Cricket is overhyped in this country and cricket deserves the allocation of a fair share of resources arguably more as compared to other sports, but the allocation of all available resources. The situation is so egregious that even the sportsman themselves are struggling to keep up with their passion, let alone attracting any fan base. Yet, the performance of the  athletes in the Olympics has been undermined and criticised. The sad truth is that money is spent to water an insignificant one of the million cricket grounds in India rather than on funding a coach or even acceptable premises to practice an event. The facilities for some sports are outright dire, and some of the athletes face nothing but adversity in trying to prepare for the Olympics with no physical or financial support.

If India is to develop as a well rounded sporting country, then its not only cricket that has to grow here. Slowly but surely changes are arising but with the rapidly growing country that is India, one can easily predict buzzing improvements if these sports are even given minute government support. Even if they are not given appropriate, but moderate support, both resourcefully and emotionally, then the second most populous country in the world will be able to sow and reap much more talented athletes who will surely do this country proud. Do not focus on India vs West Indies, focus on giving a #BillionCheers to our atheletes