In an encouraging move, the Arunachal Pradesh Government is going to honour 300 sports achievers on August 29, observed as National Sports Day; which so far has remained a low-key affair and has passed us yearly without a blip.

A fine example is the northeastern region of India which has emerged as a powerhouse of sporting talents in recent times. It won’t be wrong to say that athletes have managed to attract attention towards a region which has for long languished in obscurity or if at all made the news is was for the wrong reasons.

Up till recently, sports in India was looked upon as an unproductive pastime, one which was aggressively discouraged. However, all that is changing and on numerous occasions, sportspersons have made the country proud in the global arena. However, there is a lack of correlation between intent and action. The ‘politicization’ of sports that too in a country with very few champions of global stature is proving debilitating.

We live in a land of ironies, and that clearly reflects on our sporting culture too. How else could one explain the controversies that always accompany the announcement of the country’s much-celebrated awards honouring sporting excellence -- the Arjuna, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Dronacharya for coaches -- presented by the President on National Sports Day.

The awards were instituted to honour and motivate Indian athletes and their outstanding coaches. However, every year, once the winners are announced, many athletes/coaches come out crying foul at being excluded. In the last two decades or so, Arjuna, Khel Ratna and Dronacharya awards have attracted such controversies and mud-slinging, many alleging that favouritism and political influence are the factors, which eventually earns athletes the awards.

These are important lessons Arunachal must learn, to realise the true purpose of such ‘sports awards’.

The recent reports of duplicate certificates being circulated to avail government service under sports quota must be taken seriously by authorities. Misuse of sports quota will destroy the morale of deserving sportspersons who have given their all to bring laurels for Arunachal and set a wrong precedent.

Sports officials, award juries and the government, should, try to streamline the system by weeding out political influence as well as ironing out subjectivity in the criteria. Perhaps the sportspersons should also remember that their real fight is not running behind an award.

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