The Indian medal winners want to make the game they won laurels in, get a universal following. However their showing and attitude on returning from London make them more like rich spoilt brats. They run away from appearing on the national broadcaster like a baby runs away from food to enjoy junk food.
Agree that the medal winners have burnt the mid-night oil and spent sleepless nights to reach their goals. All six medal winners have shown the hunger to achieve success. They are enjoying their moment in the sun but their home return and the way they have handled the media has left a lot to be desired.
Doordarshan with all its constraints and shortcomings covers them when no other private channel even thinks about them before their success. They come to DD with a certain whiff of dreams in their eyes while private players are busy garnering TRP's with their titillating programs. That’s the moment when DD catches their moment of glory, translates their dream into a reality brings them closer to the heavenly pleasure of holding a trophy or a cup in their hand....It's only DD and its regional channels which then cover the state and national competitions to make them stars. However many may claim that this is the responsibility of the national broadcaster but I would like to point out here, with a pained heart, that DD does not get anything in return. What it does get for sure is the sheer indifference of athletes after they've won laurels....Athletes chose not the national broadcaster but the private tv channels for their first sound bytes. They come to DD when the entire maina over their victory and achievement is over an out.
Saina Nehwal and Gagan Narang were the first to return followed by Vijay Kumar. Grapplers Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar along with MC Marykom followed soon just after the conclusion of the games. The stars are busy meeting their professional commitments and collecting fat cheques from state and central governments. Sports Ministry too joined the bandwagon and showered cash bonanzas on them in a mismanaged function at India Gate. What the media got in return was a good photo opportunity with the winners at the historic site with the same reactions which are becoming repetitive with every passing day. The stars with their band of agents and advisors are looking to rake in the moolah when the sun is hot.
Cut to China, and Russia with medal winners aplenty that it could become convenient for their sports federations or Olympic Body to send one medal to every Indian studio. The medal winners from these countries after winning come straight to the broadcasting studios of the national broadcaster to link with their fans and to take the appeal of the game forward. On returning home, the medal winners narrate the success story and reach out through the eyes and ears of their respective national broadcasters. The Olympic Body and discipline Federations are in perfect symbiotic relations with their national broadcasters.
The same success formula does not hold any value in India. The Olympic Body, the federations, the sports ministry are all trying to outdo the other. The national broadcaster which is hauled up by everyone during the games for any error for its coverage is left to fight its own battle. Doordarshan after repeated calls to agents, advisors of medal winners are still getting blank promises of their coming to the DD studios. Medal winners do not want to get associated with DD as though the Games organizers had telecast their achievement directly to India or believing they achieved success at the biggest stage all by themselves. The national broadcaster is the window through which the whole of India has seen their achievements.
The celebrations will die down and the private channels will soon get back to business. However the national Broadcaster will be the only window for the audio visual coverages once they hit the ranges, courts, mats and rings again.
