Assam Tribune
EDITORIAL
Pride of Asom
Jayanta Talukdars remarkable feat of clinching the individual recurve gold at the recently held FITA Meteksan Archery World Cup in Porec, Croatia has placed him as the countrys top archer and to an honourable fourth spot in world rankings. The ace archer from the Tata Archery Academy, Jamshedpur defeated two Olympic medallists in the competition to win the top spot in the competition. Besides, earlier at the Bangkok Asian Grand Prix, he had outperformed Athens Olympics silver medallist Yamamoto Hiroshi from Japan. Having excelled at the highest level,
Jayanta now becomes a strong contender for the Asian and Olympic events apart from the four World Cups to be held later in the year. Jayantas achievement is yet another example of the quality and resources Asom has. It also underscores the fact that proper exposure and right kind of platform at the opportune time can do wonders to people who have the talent and resolve to excel not just in sports but in other fields too. A few months back, it was Debojit Saha from Silchar, who took the national music scene by storm when he became the Voice of India after winning the Sa Re Ga Ma Pa contest. In the same vein, swimmer Hemanta Bora from Nagaon was in the national limelight recently when he made a valiant attempt to cross a stretch of the Arabian Sea and was successful. Then there are budding cricketers like Abu Naschim Ahmed who made his presence felt at the under-19 World Cup in Colombo and Pervez Aziz who showed his class in the under-19 Test matches against the visiting
English colts.
For Jayanta, the long journey towards star status has only begun. Consistency will be the key for him in future events. With Asom lacking the requisite facilities for archery not to mention the state-of-the-art infrastructure he avails in the Academy, it makes sense for him to ply his trade there and make Jamshedpur his home rather than coming back to his hometown, a fact that the archer himself had pointed out while he was on a visit to Guwahati recently. Talent in itself is however not enough. Funds too come into the equation for sportsmen who exhibit potential but cannot proceed owing to its crunch. Hemantas case illustrates this point. It is a shame that a swimming prodigy like him is still running from pillar to post for funds, to take part in the world championship to be held in Switzerland in August or make his burning desire to cross the English Channel, a reality. Whats worse is that the State government has paid deaf ears till date. It is time that the powers-that-be in our laidback State realised the fact that before acknowledging success, nurturing talents for making them successful is imperative.
With the 33rd National Games scheduled to be held in Asom later this year, a decent platform for the budding sportsmen has been laid, what with sophisticated stadia coming up. But the job will remain half done until the government, sport associations and allied bodies make concrete efforts to identify talents and provide them ample scope in terms of funds and facilities. No stones should be left unturned to locate and help prodigies like Hemanta from every nook and cranny of the State. Corporate investment must be encouraged for setting up academies. Emphasis should not be only on popular sport like cricket, football and hockey. With infrastructure being laid for shooting, archery, swimming, cycling and a host of relatively less-popular sport, there is certainly scope for overall development of sport in the State. It is hoped that Jayantas success will inspire the States authorities to think and be pro-active. They dont need to look far but take a cue from neighbouring States like Manipur and Jharkhand.
For Jayanta, the long journey towards star status has only begun. Consistency will be the key for him in future events. With Asom lacking the requisite facilities for archery not to mention the state-of-the-art infrastructure he avails in the Academy, it makes sense for him to ply his trade there and make Jamshedpur his home rather than coming back to his hometown, a fact that the archer himself had pointed out while he was on a visit to Guwahati recently. Talent in itself is however not enough. Funds too come into the equation for sportsmen who exhibit potential but cannot proceed owing to its crunch. Hemantas case illustrates this point. It is a shame that a swimming prodigy like him is still running from pillar to post for funds, to take part in the world championship to be held in Switzerland in August or make his burning desire to cross the English Channel, a reality. Whats worse is that the State government has paid deaf ears till date. It is time that the powers-that-be in our laidback State realised the fact that before acknowledging success, nurturing talents for making them successful is imperative.
With the 33rd National Games scheduled to be held in Asom later this year, a decent platform for the budding sportsmen has been laid, what with sophisticated stadia coming up. But the job will remain half done until the government, sport associations and allied bodies make concrete efforts to identify talents and provide them ample scope in terms of funds and facilities. No stones should be left unturned to locate and help prodigies like Hemanta from every nook and cranny of the State. Corporate investment must be encouraged for setting up academies. Emphasis should not be only on popular sport like cricket, football and hockey. With infrastructure being laid for shooting, archery, swimming, cycling and a host of relatively less-popular sport, there is certainly scope for overall development of sport in the State. It is hoped that Jayantas success will inspire the States authorities to think and be pro-active. They dont need to look far but take a cue from neighbouring States like Manipur and Jharkhand.
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