India is a land of diverse, multi-linguistic rich culture. We have people from varied sections of the society living in the country. The country boasts of its rich cultural heritage that we Indians are sure proud to be associated with.

It is however, empathising to see how most of us have restricted our choices in the field of sports. Be it the choice of viewership or of taking a sport as a profession. In a country with a population of 1.13 billion (approximately) it is appalling to see the slow ad gradual decay of our National sports and many other sports.

On one hand where the country has fanatic supporters and crazy fan following for a game like cricket, we often underplay our role in displaying a similar sense of enthusiasm for all the other sports. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if a first or second grader would think cricket, rather than hockey, as our National game. I would surely not blame the child or the education system for it, as it is the environment in which we live that formulates our opinions and thoughts. In a typical Indian household where cricket definitely has a higher viewership than any other sports, it wouldn’t be wrong on the child’s part to assume the same as our national sport.

Well if you are beginning to think that this is just a mere piece of work by an anti-cricket person, then let me clarify that so is not the case. Though I do believe that the country does give the sport an over-dose of importance.

In a country like ours it is good to have an element that binds all us together and keeps us all united. Where riots heat-up with the smallest spark it is prodigious to see the country united by the game of cricket. However the fact that cannot be denied is that other sports like hockey, tennis, soccer, table-tennis, snooker, and many more are still underplayed in our country. Though these games have managed to capture the interests of a few Indians in the past few years, a lot still needs to be done for their promotion and for encouraging the sportspersons involved in these games.

I am sure we all remember the Indian cricket team’s victorious performance in the 20-20 World Cup that happened in October and the lavish welcome that the team got on its arrival in “namma bengaluru”. In the euphoria that surrounded the win, all the state governments played their part in showering doles of national treasury on the able players of the triumphant ‘Team India’ making the already lavishly paid players a bit more .

The city heard slogans of “Chak de India” all around encouraging and boosting the morale of the players. What realty was ironic was how everyone remembered to associate the “Chak de” spirit with the game of cricket and not hockey as depicted in the Hindi movie “Chak De”.

It was really pathetic to see the coverage given to the Indian team after a convincing win in the Asian Cup, beating Korea to a score of 7-2. Leave alone the acknowledgement, no one really seemed to care about it. It was like a “what’s the big deal “ affair.

Have any one of us given a thought as to why the four time billiards and snooker champion Pankaj Advani, the only one India can boast of at present, refused the state award conferred on him by the state government? Hmm.. does he not like his efforts being recognised ???? What can the reason be???

Well the sole reason for his denial of the honour bestowed on him was that he was sick of the step-motherly treatment meted out to him by his state government. Same is the story everywhere in all the other realms of sports needless to say, except cricket.

It is depressing to see how a lot of potential sportsperson have their talent go unnoticed due to the lack of infrastructure provided by the government. The government hardly makes an initiative to come forward and encourage wrestlers, soccer players, swimmers, shooters, or any other sports one can think of . On one and where have cricket that is commercialised in a larger than life way , players from different realms of the sports find it really arduous to get some decent amount of training in their field.

It is no co- incidence that the country fails to perform to the best of its potential in the Commonwealth , Olympics or any other sports meet. The players who perform are definitely not to blame for the performance as it is the best they can put in and the best they can perform. What we lack here is a proper and constant training provided to these players. Most of the players come from a not so “financially – stable” background and find it really difficult to manage some decent training for themselves. Leave alone the training they hardly have the finances to buy decent sport accessories most of the times.

In fact parents these days would rather prefer their children taking up cricket as a career option as their future stands a bright chance in the game. Why is it that other sports do not provide that kind of a surety soccer on an international level has always had the distinction of being a sport that can fetch one good returns, but in a country like India where all other sports are over-shadowed by Cricket, this frame of mind does not exist. If the investment on soccer reaches a level such that people are attracted towards it then the output of this will be another religion in India, namely soccer.

Have we other asked ourselves the question as to how long can we treat the other sports as insignificant? Sports federations governed by politicians and their sycophants have ruined the complete sports infrastructure of our country. It's a time to ponder over this grim situation, not to fix blame onto someone.