Let Your Mind Takeover

With the London Olympics around the corner, the questions in all of our mind is, "How many medals is India going to win"? Being so close to top competitive form myself, fresh off the 2 Olympics that i have competed in and having the experience of both winning and loosing, i can actually feel myself get into the skin of every Indian athlete bound for the mega sporting extravaganza.

There are four months to the opening ceremony and here onwards, the mind takes over. The competitions prior to the Olympic Games can be extremely important. Every sportsperson will sensibily use these opportunities to be in top competitive form by Jul/Aug at the time of the Games. Like a Tiger in sight of the prey in a herd, instinct will tell him when to launch, provided he has had the experience to have built one and trusts his instinct.

Who you win against, how you win, or how you have played even if lost, the ability and the confidence to re produce the moves, or the small errors that you are happy to have noticed now rather then later, the feeling of conserving the hunger to win- to let a weaker player win prior to the Olympics and smile within. The continuous tempering of your mind, like a guitar that is being tuned to play the perfect note when called upon; the feeling itself is sheer magic.

Just like being in the thick of anti terrorist operations- heightened senses, ready yet relaxed muscles, eyes watching in peripheral vision, listening in to the people and sensing their emotions for a give away, the feeling of being hunted while hunting. Such moments are pure magic, off course, only later. At that moment, you are zoned, too involved to feel pleasure or fear and if you do feel either, you are close to being dead, be it a soldier or a sportsperson (figuratively).

I have a good sense of how each of our athletes and sportspersons will fare. Its also time to leave them to do what best they can do. The unpredictability is the spice of life and hope keeps us going, the mind is so powerful that it maker turn dreams into reality. Lets watch them closely from now to the Olympic Games and may the best player win. Sports to look out for- Boxing, Archery, Shooting, Badminton

Life's A Race, Is It Really!!

I received this as an email. I found it inspiring and thus have put it on my blog for you to read:-

It was a Sports Stadium.
Eight Children were standing on the track to participate in a running event.
* Ready! * Steady! * Bang !!!
With the sound of Toy pistol,
All eight girls started running.
Hardly had they covered ten to fifteen steps,
when one of the smaller girls slipped and fell down,
Due to bruises and pain she started crying.
When the other seven girls heard the little girl cry they stopped running, stood for a while and turned back.
Seeing the girl on the track they all ran to help.
One among them bent down, picked her up and kissed her gently
And enquired as to how she was..
They then lifted the fallen girl pacifying her.
Two of them held her firmly while all seven joined hands together and walked together towards the winning post........
There was pin drop silence at the spectator's stand.
Officials were shocked.
Slow claps multiplied to thousands as the spectators stood up in appreciation.
Many eyes were filled with tears
And perhaps even God's!
YES.!! This happened in Hyderabad [INDIA], recently!
The sport was conducted by
National Institute of Mental Health.
All these special girls had come to participate in this event
They were spastic children.
Yes, they were Mentally Challenged.

CWG Selection Trials

I think, as sportsmen, we all go through the adversities created by our sports officials some time or the other.

Basically - our previous selection policy was-

selection trials are held for competitions in the forthcoming 2 months calender (and if someone has won a medal in the immediate past or had an exceptional performance then he is excused form trials, if he so desires with permission of Federation)

Hence after taking 2009 off I planned to start training by Jan 2010 and be in form by Jun 2010 for World Shooting Championships (WSC) 2010.

However in Mar 2010, we got stumped by the Federation when they announced a new selection policy. The new policy was to follow a system of adding up all scores shot by shooters and averaging them out. The highest aggregate gets selected.

The problems-

1. The policy was implemented in Mar 2010 but scores were retrospectively taken from previous months like Feb 2010...giving rise to prejudice and bias

2. Scores shot by Indian shooters abroad in different (mostly better) conditions were to be compared to scores shot in humid, hot and windy conditions prevailing in the summer months in India.

3. Taken by surprise, since i was not in form in early 2010, i was left with a huge score deficit to catchup in the later selection trials (in Indian conditions)

4. Interestingly the same policy was for Rifle and Pistol shooters too but was amended for them but not for Shot Gunners. So we had a situation; one federation but different selection policies. Again, revealing bias.

5. The whole atmosphere of Vindictiveness, created by the sports administrators did not leave me or some of the other shooters with a positive frame of mind to overcome the odds stacked up.

6.The policy laid down some grace marks for Olympic/WSC medalist but decided that 2004 Olympics being in distant past did not warrant grace marks (as if the experience is limited by 4 year life cycle of each Olympics)

Its now interesting to hear the officials say that the matter was never brought up to their notice, was it not, really!!!

Interestingly, I was in Italy in Jun 2010 where the World Cup Shooting (WCS) was scheduled. In a WCS if there are inadequate number of shooters then the vacancies in the shooting squad have to be filled up by a zero shooter (his scores are not officially counted towards the medal prospects for that competition). So, I got the opportunity to shoot as a zero shooter there. However, upon learning of this the Indian federation, immediately issued a verbal diktat to all shooters that no one is to take part as zero shooter, without the permission of the federation. A permission that they would not give. Normally, I would believe that a federation promoting sports and its sportsmen would want its shooters to get as much opportunity as is possible to shoot and demonstrate their caliber. Or was it that, the federation did not want any anyone other then those selected to throw up a brilliant performance. Why should actions of a sporting federation raise questions.

I have tried to maintain as positive an attitude as is possible, even today as the news is breaking out on the TV and other Media. I do believe there is a higher good for me despite these troubles. I know the strength of the Indian Shooting Team and hence am looking confidently at all those selected to win at the CWG Delhi. By all accounts, the shooters are only growing stronger.