Let me start this piece with a quiz question: ?We were keenly following our medals tally at the Commonwealth Games and when we reached a 100 we were just delighted for our athletes?. If asked to name the person making this statement, perhaps one of the very last names would be that of Sachin Tendulkar. Yet statements like this were heard all evening at the Sahara India sports awards 2010 in Mumbai.
From sharing with the audience his three unfulfilled dreams to commending the medal winners at CWG, Sachin Tendulkar was both buoyant and inspirational. Honoured with the award of the cricketer of the year and also nominated as India?s best sports star ever, Sachin spoke about what he does best?playing for India and the Tricolour. ?Playing for India is a dream and I have chased that dream since childhood. The most important thing in my life is to be able to play for the Tricolour. It still gives me the ultimate satisfaction a sportsperson can dream of?. Such comments allowed us to fantasize, transport ourselves to the future and imagine Sachin Tendulkar holding aloft the World Cup at the refurbished Wankhede stadium come April 2, 2011, alongside his teammates in what will perhaps be Indian cricket?s biggest-ever moment.
It was a special evening, thanks to the efforts of Abhijit Sarkar and his team at Sahara. The barrier between cricket and Olympic sports collapsed in a rare gesture for Indian sports and postcard opportunities were at hand in abandon. From Sushil Kumar giving Mahendra Singh Dhoni a hug to Sachin Tendulkar standing up to applaud Gagan Narang and Sourav Ganguly warmly applauding the achievements of 16-year-old Deepika Kumari, the awards raised sports and our icons to a pedestal hardly ever seen before in India. And importantly enough it wasn?t only the present stars who were felicitated. Rather, legends from the past, now in a state of financial destitution, were handsomely rewarded monetarily for their contributions to Indian sport.
With confident champions all round, it was evident that Indian sport is on the cusp of a breakthrough. This thought was expressed beautifully by India?s best shooter and gold medal prospect at the Asian Games, Gagan Narang. ?The Commonwealth Games was just a trailer about what Indian sport can do. It is now time to make the Asian stage our own.? And he is not alone in sharing this view. His shooter mates, the hockey stars, boxers Suranjoy and Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar and a host of other champions present at the evening were all speaking in a voice we have only recently come to associate with India?s sports stars. Raring to go on the eve of a major event, this is a new India, one which is aggressive and bold, confident and assertive. Gone are the days when we were apprehensive and jittery, under-confident and demoralised even before we left Indian shores to compete at the world stage.
Lavishly interspersed with glitz and glamour, with Shahrukh Khan anchoring the show, it was also a mesh of two of India?s best brands, sports and Bollywood. And there were elements of crossover as well. Suresh Raina singing a Bollywood number was one such. He could well contemplate a musical career a decade from now once he has had enough of cricket and has served the nation
to the best of his
cricketing ability. Similarly, Sreesanth showed he hasn?t lost a bit of his dancing verve and agility, while Jwala Gutta matched up to him at every step. Simply, the evening allowed our sports stars a comfort zone which got the best out of them, unexpectedly sophisticated sense of humour, wit, determination, passion and intensity. With sounds of Chak De reverberating at intervals and with films being shown about India?s recent sporting triumphs across sporting disciplines, it was evidence of the power of sport to galvanise and mesmerise, seduce and stimulate our imagination.
Finally, the evening was given a different meaning when Subrata Roy Sahara announced the creation of a separate fund of Rs 25 lakh for Indian sportspersons in financial strife. It was proof that days are near when India can justly dream of becoming a sporting nation with a true sports culture for taking sport seriously will soon stand to guarantee a life of respect, dignity and integrity. It was, truly, an evening to remember.
The writer is a sports historian