Thrice in the last couple of days young Indians have brought me to my feet and caused emotions to leap up in joy. Indian sport rarely does that and so this was an awakening. Just as the Hindu rate of growth of the Indian economy was found to be a man-made constraint so too, one senses, is India’s ability to compete at sport. Joy blooms and anger follows. Joy, at what is possible, and anger too, for what can be.

Abhinav Bindra fulfilled the sportslover’s ultimate fantasy. The tricolour went up and the national anthem played and if your eyes weren’t moist at what he had achieved you weren’t Indian and you didn’t know what heartbreak meant. A young man with still chubby cheeks and a distant look has joined the ranks of India’s greatest. Now he must keep the vultures that prey on success at bay, for he will find that he is the latest bandwagon to hitch on to.

India’s shooters have begun charting the path that India’s chess players did ten years ago. But the chess players were luckier for all they needed was a cardboard box, some chess pieces and a handy laptop. Even that was beyond India at times. But the shooters have overcome more and now we must give them, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Anjali Bhagwat and Gagan Narang and Avneet Kaur and everyone else, a standing ovation for they have won at different places on the world stage.

As we must young Saina Nehwal. Just 18 and looking it, which is rare in many sports, she showed the kind of determination that tugged at the heart and made you want to reach out to her. Cruelly, a television channel said she flattered to deceive. She didn’t. She was tired for she had played her heart out. It is easy to write captions but remember, she has gone where no Indian girl has gone before in her sport. This is a time for generosity, of acknowledgement and crucially, of investment. It is not much for corporate Hyderabad, or indeed for corporate India. We cannot leave her to the mercy of the bureaucracy.

... contd.