Misplaced hype over Hima won’t help athlete: Gurbachan Singh Randhawa

New Delhi: Gurbachan Singh Randhawa comes from a time when medals brought athletes respect, but little in terms of monetary benefits. He won a gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games in decathlon and was among the first recipients of the Arjuna Award which he won in 1961.

Comparing his era to the present one would be a futile exercise. “When I used to go for competitions I had to take care of all the payments. I don’t blame anyone for it — we simply didn’t have the infrastructure back then, there was not even a Sports Ministry,” Randhawa told IANS.

However, he advices caution in optimism. “Things have changed for the better to a large extent now, but we still have a long way to go to reach world standards,” he said.

Randhawa believes that athletes being recognised for their performances is good, but hyping up victories in insignificant competitions is to be avoided. A case in point being that of sprinter Hima Das, whose five medals in races across Europe last month made her a sensation on social media with politicians, celebrities and even fellow sportspersons hailing the achievement.

The reality is that these were fairly low level tournaments that she took part in so as to ease herself back into competition mode after recovering from a back injury that forced her to prematurely end her participation in the Asian Athletics Championships in April.

“These competitions were not of any standard at all. This sort of needless hype is not good for the players,” said Randhawa. “She is a talented girl, she might even qualify for the Olympics. But qualification shouldn’t be a target, medals need to be the target.”

At the same time however, the 80-year-old believes that medals and wins, or the lack of them, cannot be the only parameters to measure an athlete’s success. “There is a lot that goes into getting to the point where the athlete wins or loses a medal. That should be considered too,” he said.

Randhawa believes that in this sense, the authorities have done well in the run up to the Tokyo Olympics. “Athletes have been provided with facilities. There is no doubt about that. They have been given good coaches and there has been no delay in payments of any kind for them. There has been a lot of good investment in the right areas,” he said. IANS

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