To raise athletic talents in the country the following should be considered:
1. Establishing initiatives in schools to introduce sports early, identifying and nurturing talent from a young age.
2. Introducing scholarships to support promising athletes, enabling them to focus on training without financial constraints to help encourage poor but talented athletes.
3. Investing in training and development programmes for coaches, ensuring they have the skills to identify and nurture talents effectively.
4. Educating the public about the importance of sports, encouraging participation and fostering a culture that values athletic excellence.
5. Implementing nutrition programmes to ensure athletes receive proper dietary guidance for optimal performance and recovery.
By implementing these measures at the state and central level, we can create a robust framework for identifying, nurturing, and supporting athletic talents, contributing to overall better performance in sports.
Priya Raj (14)
St Joseph’s Convent High School, Jethuli, Patna

To foster athletic talents in India, a holistic approach is needed. Central and state governments should invest more in grassroots sports programmes, enhance sports infrastructure, and provide better coaching facilities. Additionally, promoting a sports culture in schools and colleges is crucial. Offering scholarships and financial incentives for athletes, irrespective of their background, can help create a level playing field. Encouraging private sector involvement in sports development can also boost India’s performance on the international stage.
Divya Singh (14)
Notre Dame School, Badarpur, New Delhi

India has shown a lot of improvement in sports in recent years and it is mainly because of talented athletes and the policy of the Indian Government. To raise athletic talents in our country for better performances: 1. New planned policies should be formulated by the government. 2. The budget for sports should be raised. 3. The government should promote and encourage talented athletes who have the potential to excel at the international level. 4. It should provide good training centres and nutritious food along with better equipment. 5. It should support especially girls/women training, and also participation at both the national and international level.
Sneha Sharma (15)
St Mary’s Convent Inter College, Prayagraj

Improving athletic talents in India requires investing in sports infrastructure, implementing grassroots programmes, offering specialized coaching, providing financial support, and emphasizing sports education in schools. A collaborative effort between central and state authorities, the private sector, and sports organizations is crucial to create a comprehensive ecosystem fostering talent development.
R. Yazhini (14)
St Joseph’s Matric Hr Sec School, Nagercoil

A few measures can be taken by the government or a community to accelerate athletic talents in our country:
1. Building proper sports setup in schools with basic necessities.
2. Assurance of annual sports programmes in school.
3. Parents should be encouraged to allow their children to take part in sports.
4. Various governmental schemes and scholarships for easy access to sports for the rural community.
5. Sports insurance programmes in schools.
Sara Tamseel Khwaja
St Joseph’s Convent High School, Bankipore, Patna

Some suggestions to improve performance are: Attract young budding talents by revamping our education system with equal importance given to sports. Then world class training centres need to be developed and sports universities to be established. A categorical separation of management and sports activities. Increased investment through corporate sponsorship for funds. Integration of sports academies with schools and colleges.
Yuvraj Singh Rajput (12)
Notre Dame School, Badarpur, New Delhi

India has a rich athletic history with many talented athletes in various sports. Indian athletes have won medals at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. Overall, India’s athletic prowess continues to grow, inspiring future generations.
The following steps can be taken to raise athletic talents in our country for better performances:
Provide good coaches, nutritionists, doctors, support staff.
Provide modern equipment.
Support players if they are poor.
Start from the lower classes in schools.
Teach youngsters the importance of sports in life.
Indians should develop an interest in other sports apart from cricket.
Invite foreign coaches to India to train players.
Safiya
Girls’ High School, Prayagraj

India mostly focuses on a particular sport like cricket, and rarely prioritizes other sports. The government should give equal importance to every sport so that any sport could achieve national pride. In India, the caste system is prevalent in most rural areas of the country, and it is mostly the richer sections of society that are given facilities. So while participating in sports there should be no inequality between players. There should be proper infrastructure and training facilities in educational institutions especially in underdeveloped states like Bihar and Odisha.
Ananya Mohanty (15)
SAI International School, Bhubaneswar

India is achieving great feats in the field of athletics, but much is yet to be done. The state governments should build coaching centres specifically for sports and provide financial support for the less privileged to access them. Various competitions and events should be held all over India to find those with athletic talents who may be competent to participate in international competitions. To encourage children to have an interest in a particular activity, the government should mandate that athletics be taught as a subject in educational institutions.
Aadya Kumar (13)
St Joseph’s Convent High School, Jethuli, Patna

This year onwards, e-sports has been recognised as an official sport at the Asian Games. India has the second largest game base in the world. However, Indian parents still take online games as a ‘mere hobby’ and see no future in it. The same goes with other sports as well. The main cause of this is the lack of awareness among people. The government should come up with promotions to make people aware of the sports world and the bright future in it. There must be sports institutions in every district and financial support should be provided to athletes. Undoubtedly, most Indians are cricket lovers and don’t look beyond it. The government should promote every sport. Additionally, schools must have good coaches and trainers so that students can build an interest in becoming athletes.
Anwesha Ajay (13)
St Joseph’s Convent High School, Jethuli, Patna

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Fitness and exercise are important for everyone. Playing a sport is a great way for children to take a break from academics and release pent-up energy. It also helps them lead fuller and happier lives, as regular sports and fitness activities have proven to provide not only physical benefits but also social and psychological benefits to children. Today, let’s discuss the benefits of sports for students.

Character-building Traits

Self-confidence and self-esteem
Several studies suggest that playing sports develops a child’s self-confidence and self-esteem. A pat on the back, high-five from a teammate or a handshake after a match really boosts a child’s confidence. Words of praise and encouragement from the coach, parents and other players raise one’s self-esteem. An important thing to remember is that a child’s self-esteem should not be distinguished by victory or loss. It also helps when you ask, “Did you enjoy the game?” rather than “Did you win?”

Manage emotions
We know how emotions run high in sports — whether watching a sport or playing it. Channelling negative emotions can be tough for children and a good coach will help them realise how negative emotional stress could hurt their performance. Such wisdom ingrained earlier on in life will help them deal with other life challenges later on.

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The present article may have nothing new to convey to you as the name Milkha Singh is not new for those who follow sports at any level nor some of the important achievements of independent India’s first super sportsman would be new for the readers as a biopic on him has ensured that even the cinema goers have a detailed knowledge about this Flying Sikh’s achievements. However, this article is The Teenager Today’s homage to an Indian athlete who for the first time made the world aware of independent India’s athletic potential.

Milkha Singh’s life story is a mix of tragedy and solace. Perhaps, the most tragic moment in his life must have been when as a teenager he saw the killing of his parents in the heinous rampage that followed India’s partition in 1947, but he was fortunate to have survived and found a safe refuge in India. He was fortunate to be recruited in the Indian Army which became mainly responsible for giving him the impetus to take to running but perhaps the same Army rules also restricted his elevation to the rank of an Honorary Captain and not beyond to that of an Honorary Major or Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. However, his achievements on the tracks were recognised by the country when he was awarded the Padma Shri in 1958 and in the process became the first ever athlete to receive such an honour. As a passing reference, it is worth mentioning that in 2007 when Milkha Singh’s son Jeev Milkha Singh was awarded the Padma Shri, it was the first time in India that a father-son sporting combination had received such an honour.

It is interesting to note that Milkha Singh’s name never came up for the Arjuna Award till 2001 when the Sports Ministry realised suddenly about its failing. However, the ever polite Milkha refused the Award on the pretext that the Award was meant for younger sportsmen and not for veterans like him. Later, he was more frank about the whole affair and made it clear that conferring an Arjuna Award after having been conferred the Padma Shri was synonymous to awarding someone with a Senior School Certificate after that someone had already received a post graduate degree.

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Meerut till date had been famous for two of its products — manufacture of sports goods, especially cricket bats and during the winter season for its sweet snacks called rewri. However, more recently, a young athlete named Annu Rani has brought the small city of Meerut into prominence with her outstanding performance on the sports field. For all we know, the story of this Indian athlete may have just begun.

Born in a farmer’s family in the Bhadurpur village of Meerut District in Uttar Pradesh, Annu had to face all the problems of a conservative village family where her father was opposed to her participating in any competitive sports. However, her elder brother, Upendra, could see the potential in his sister and encouraged her to take to javelin-throwing, but the beginning was not what one expects in the normal course of events.

Playing cricket in her village as a growing girl, Annu could throw the ball to the wickets from the boundary line of the village cricket field. This set her brother thinking that his sister has a strong upper body and hence could take up javelin throw as one of the athletics events. A javelin was not affordable for the family, so Annu’s javelin throw coaching started with hurling of sugarcanes that were grown in her village. The next stage of training for Annu was a sharpened bamboo which could be considered closer to a javelin than the sugarcane.

Much against her father’s wishes, Annu would travel more than five miles each day to take her training classes and by the time she was entering her teens she could throw the javelin almost half the distance of what she can do repeatedly, today. Her father’s view changed gradually as he saw his daughter drawing adulations at the district and state level meets and the progress that young Annu continued to show at every stage. Thanks to the watchful eyes of an erstwhile India athlete, Kashinath, Annu started getting a more formalised coaching in her event and finally with a throw of 58.83 metres at the 2014 National Games, she created a new record for women’s javelin in India.

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THE WEEK, the national weekly magazine of the Malayala Manorama group, called her the “Dream Girl” (interestingly her name given by her mother means just that) choosing her as their Athlete of the Year.

THE TEENAGER TODAY chose her as our cover girl, this month, not merely for the reasons stated above, though they are valid reasons for choosing someone to be on our cover. We have done that in the case of the reigning Miss India Anukreeti Vas (August 2018); Hima Das, India’s Newest Golden Girl (September 2018); Avani Chaturvedi, India’s First Female Fighter Pilot (October 2018); and 19-year-old cricketer Prithvi Shaw (December 2018).

Swapna Barman is on our cover this month, above all, for the grit and determination she has shown in pursuing her dream of winning gold in one of the very difficult events, in the Asian Games which makes her a role model for our young and not-so young readers. She seems to have said to her parents that she wouldn’t return home if she didn’t win gold at Jakarta. Gp. Capt Achchyut Kumar titles his cover story on her: Determination, Thy Name Is Swapna!

Her journey to the victory stand wasn’t at all easy and on an even path. Her parents were extremely poor, her father being a rickshaw puller and mother a daily wage earner with four children to fend for. And to add to the family’s woes, the father suffered a stroke, making it impossible for him to work. As he was bedridden, Basana, her mother, couldn’t go to work either, as her 24×7 presence was necessary at his side.

However, Basana had great dreams for her first daughter and she named her Swapna (dream), and she kept communicating her dreams to her in spite of all the hardships she had to undergo. Basana recalls Swapna’s childhood days: “Starchy rice at home and only water in school.” With such a diet, though, Swapna completed her studies. The rest dropped out.

There is more to the challenges that Swapna had to face. She was born with six toes (like her mother) on each of her feet, a handicap that makes it extremely difficult for one to run or jump like other athletes. Ordinary sports shoes wouldn’t fit her feet, either. But, none of the above would stop her from realising her dream. Her goal now is to win gold in her event for India in the next Olympics! All the best, Swapna, THE TEENAGER TODAY is with you.

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Poverty in itself is a curse; it deprives one not only of opportunities and facilities but in our country like India, sometimes even recognition. When it is a family of four children of a rickshaw puller in a small town like Jalpaiguri, the chances diminish further, especially if the rickshaw puller suffers two strokes to be bedridden and the wife has to give up her modest job of tea leaf plucking to be in perpetual attendance when survival itself may become a matter of grave concern. In such a situation, the healthy food required for any sort of competitive sporting activity is consigned beyond the realm of imagination but perhaps not so if your name is Swapna Barman.

Such is the story of the 2018 Asian Games heptathlon gold medallist but it is still not the full tale of her adversities. In fact, Swapna has been rightly recognised as somewhat of an antithesis of a heptathlete since heptathlon remains one of the most gruelling and demanding of the ladies’ athletic events. Born with six toes on each of her feet and a height of just 5’4”, Swapna had nothing ideal to be ever considered for any athletic honours and still she went on to achieve what no Indian woman athlete had achieved ever earlier — a gold medal in heptathlon at the Asian Games. Twice in the past, two Indian women athletes have graced the victory stand for the event at the same time but it has never been the one position that matters the most.

Swapna, before leaving home for the Asian Games, is purported to have told her mother that she would not return home if she did not win a medal at the Asian Games and despite all the pain that she had to bear during the Games due to a back injury and a swollen jaw, she came out trumps in her resolve. Throughout her career, Swapna had to encounter pain while running due to misfit shoes as a consequence of the odd shape of her feet, a factor that has perhaps pulled her back in putting up even better performances. Thankfully enough, after her Asian Games achievement and on persuasion from the sports minister of the country, Adidas has agreed to manufacture special shoes for Swapna to cater to her unusually broad feet. The move may help Swapna to put up still better performances in her event since she has always suffered in the 200-metre dash, the 100-metre hurdles and the 800-metre race due to her improperly fitting shoes.

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In the centuries gone by, women in India had an insignificant role to play in the field of sports and it was only the men who, like fireflies, brought moments of glory, shining once in a while in some international events. However, there has been a sea change in the past fifty to sixty years as more and more Indian women seem to be hogging the limelight in the world of sports. Athletics, till the 1970s, seemed to be out of reach for the girls as there were hardly any facilities at any level for them.

It was for the first time in the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games that an Indian woman athlete came into public attention. Kamaljeet Sandhu won the gold medal in the 400 metres final to become the first-ever Indian woman to win any Asian Games gold medal. Sandhu and India were fortunate to some degree for in the finals Kamaljeet seemed destined to finish with a silver medal but the Chinese girl ahead of her tripped and fell before breasting the tape and a golden chapter opened in the history of Indian women athletes.

The 400 metres race is one of the most gruelling races run on the tracks. Somewhere between the 250-metre and 300-metre mark, the heart seems to enter into a spasm and one has to overcome those vital moments to get a fresh supply of adrenalin to complete the race. Strangely enough, however, for inexplicable reasons, Indian athletes over the years have performed better over this quarter mile than any other distance on the tracks.

To begin, it was Milkha Singh who ran the race of his life at the Rome Olympics in 1960 and it was only one hundredth of a second that separated him from a podium finish. In the 1982 Asian Games, MD Valsamma became only the second Indian woman to win an individual gold medal when she finished the 400 metres hurdle in an Asian record time of 58.47 seconds. In later years, PT Usha brought laurels for the country in several international events but could never win any gold medal in any global track competition.

Suddenly, a new name has cropped up in India’s athletic world that seems to carry many hopes for the future. It is sudden because in just fifteen months, a teenager named Hima Das has matured from a little-known village girl to India’s first ever woman athlete to win an individual gold on the tracks in any global meet. Hima’s moment of glory came at the recently-concluded World Junior Athletic Championships at Tampere, Finland.

It is not only Hima who was unknown, even the village and town from where she hails had a similar status. Born in village Kadhulimari, in the Dhing town of Assam’s Nagaon district, Hima had her early schooling at the Dhing Public School. Initially, Hima saw her career in football as she played the game with the boys of her school but a physical training instructor named Shamshul Haque advised her to move into athletics. Hima was fortunate in getting the support of the Nagaon Sports’ Association and proved true to their faith reposed in her by winning two gold medals at the inter-district meet.

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