Call for sports medicine centre for better results

Hailing the performance of Indian sportspersons at the recently-conduclued London Olympics, former Olympians called for the setting up of a Sports Medicine Centre (SMC) as well as appointment of mental trainers to achieve excellence in the next Games.

"We have found the path and it is our responsibility to fine-tune and start performing," said former Olympian Charles Borromeo, who represented India at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, while referring to the six medals India won in the recently-concluded Olympics.

Borromeo, a Padmashree and Arjuna awardee athlete, who won gold medal in the ninth Asian Games in 1982, said, "We need SMCs at urgent basis while putting the structural sports system at grassroots in place immediately."

Besides, appointment of Sports Administrators and expertise was also important to achieve the goal, he observed.

"We have to implement sports activities seriously from school level like China and Japan to identify the talent at young age and nurture them accordingly," he said adding that the governments should also recognize them.

The Union sports ministry as well as Sports Authority of India (SAI) have launched various programmes, which needed to be put in place in letter and spirit, he said adding that Centre-sponsored 'Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYYKA)' is the best scheme to strengthened basic sports at grass root level.

Describing the London Games achievements as "better than expected" another ex-Olympian, Harbhajan Singh called for a Dope Testing Laboratory in the country.

Singh, who had the distinction of representing the country in two sports disciplines (Basketball and Handball) at International meets including 1980 Moscow Olympics (Basketball), said India could have won a couple of more medals in London Games, had some players not succumbed to pressure.

Beijing Gold medallist Abhinav Bindra performed below expectation as he was under maximum pressure to retain the medal he won in the individual event in the last edition while top ranked woman archer Deepika Kumari miserably failed under crowd pressure, Singh, also the Secretary of Jharkhand Basketball Association said.