India is a one-trick pony when it comes to Sports
In India, sports are not treated equally. That is a fact that the Athletes of this country have been living with for a long long time now. One particular sport that being Cricket has always been prioritized over other sports. And recently there has been another one of many incidents that just reiterate this fact more boldly.
If we consider the Olympics as the premium stage for sports, where is the drive to be good in the competition? After the many failures at the recently finished Olympic Games in Paris, has India not learned its lesson? Apparently not. To just give a comparison, India has won 41 medals in its entire Olympic history, while the USA Olympic team won a total of 40 Gold medals at just the Paris Olympics 2024.
What is Flag Football?
Flag football is a non-contact variant of American football, where players wear flags on their waists. Instead of tackling to halt the play, defenders remove the flags from the player in possession of the ball. The goal remains straightforward: score points by advancing the ball into the opponent’s end zone, just like in traditional American Football.
Now, due to Visa and other issues the Indian Flag Football team will miss out on the opportunity to participate in the upcoming Flag Football World Championships scheduled to take place August 27th onwards in Finland. Back in 2021, the Indian team finished in 20th place when the Championships took place in Israel. The Indian team missed out on the previous World Championships as well and now will miss back-to-back World Championships.
According to CEO Sandeep Chaudhari Visa declination is not the only issue though. Chaudhari told Sportstar more about the scenario stating, “It’s not only about the visa. There were also some technical issues from the international organiser side, so we could not cope in time. There were a lot of technicalities involved from our side, also. We don’t want to blame it on someone else. Everyone tried their best to help us out.”
Further continuing about the morale of the team he said, “Morale is definitely down because everyone worked so hard. We were practising and supposed to have a closing camp also now. We accepted it was not in our hands. In preparation towards the 2028 Olympics, this was the first big tournament where the guys could have showcased their talent and known where they stand in the world.”
With Flag Football being introduced as an Olympic Sport in LA 2028, this surely is not the way India would want to prepare itself for the biggest stage. Unsurprisingly though, this isn’t the first time a sport other than Cricket has faced similar issues in India, and it won’t be the last. Back in 2022, 21 out of 30 Wrestlers were denied Visas to Spain by the Spanish for the u-23 World Wrestling Championships.
Last year there was a serious uproar in the Indian Football Fraternity after the Indian U-23 football squad were denied participation in the 2023 FIFA U-23 World Cup. India’s former coach, Igor Stimac even said after getting sacked, “Your football is imprisoned.”
The time is now, India needs to step up in other sports. A Country of 1.5 Billion cannot pride itself on the achievements of just 11 players. In a single sport.
