India wins an international football tournament! This headline is so simple yet has been so elusive! The resurgence of indian football's blue boys, hopefully, is the beginning of a sporting renaissance in this cricket crazy nation. I was a fervent fan of indian football till I came to the US. After that, due to lack of opportunities for me to watch and enjoy Indian international and domestic games, there has been a steady decline in my interest. This probably was one single major reason for the lack of popular support for the game in our country. Zee Sports has done a commendable job in whipping up this passion once again by injecting a new zing! Far removed from the dull 'Dour'darshan telecasts, Zee has successfully marketed the sport to today's youth. Ofcourse there is more distance to be covered to even provide a semblance of competition to Cricket, but they are right on track. Coming to the Nehru Cup win itself, it was great! After eons, finally our team looked like a well oiled international side worthy of respect. Earlier , we would have minuscule sparks of brilliance but no cohesive plays and good finishes. But now it seems Bob Houghton has been able to train the team to accumulate all the lessons preached by the innumerable coaches who preceded him, and put them to practice. But I should admit, motivation for these players is not easy to get. They entered and survive in this sport, knowing it is regarded as a second class sport in this country. It can't even be compared to Hockey, since hockey is our national sport and we have 8 Olympic golds (though none of them won recently) to show on the international scene! The 'World's most popular sport' tag is the only one keeping it a rung above Volleyball, Basketball, Handball etc. This victory is a fitting tribute to Bhaichung Bhutia, the face of Indian football in the last decade! He achieved that rare endorsement worthy stardom that eluded players like IM Vijayan, Bruno Coutinho and Jo Paul Ancheri! Every sport needs a star to stir support amongst the masses. Dhanraj Pillay for hockey, Limba Ram for archery, Jaspal Rana for shooting, Leander paes & Sania Mirza for Tennis, Prakash Padukone & Gopichand for badminton, PT Usha for athletics, Malleshwari for weightlifting, Geet Sethi for billiards etc etc etc! Bhaichung filled that gap for football. The scores of cash incentives announced after this victory should continue as this will secure the financial futures of the players. Zee Sports' coverage of the National Football League (NFL) , has brought the game out of the traditional enclaves of Bengal, Kerala and Goa. Cue should be taken from the USA, where even little league baseball games are telecast on national networks. Watching sports in a stadium, bar or home should become a major pastime like going to the movies. Hope there are several more such revivals in sports such as Athletics, Boxing, Gymnastics & Swimming.
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