Commonwealth Games gold medallist in archery, Dola Banerjee, Olympic gold medallist in hockey, Gurbux Singh and Indian chess grandmaster Dibyendu Barua spoke about Bengal’s sporting dreams at the Sportstar East Sports Conclave 2023 on Monday. The session was moderated by The Hindu correspondent, Amitabha Das Sharma.
Bengal’s rich sporting legacy has somehow lost sheen. Gurbux Singh said, “I think it is important to recall and retrospect what happened to our Bengal teams. Going through the records since 1948, we had 23 people from Bengal in the Olympics, in ‘52 there were 19. Now, there is no one.
“I think we can do much better. We were just discussing how Haryana and Odisha have done better when it comes to hockey. Now we hardly have Olympians from Bengal. Football was our forte. We have gone down a lot. We are hardly contributing to the national team.”
To recover lost glory, Gurbux feels, the state government and corporate houses should intervene. “I think it is important for the government and corporate houses to bring in more investment... We are doing well in chess and cricket. We have reached the semifinals and finals of the Ranji Trophy. We still can do so much better. We have talent but we need the states for encouragement and support.”
Gurbux said the government of Odisha is setting an example. “The district of Sundargarh has 21 blocks and it has 21 astroturfs. They are not even water-based but dry. We can do much better.”
Chess grandmaster Dibyendu Barua, however, feels the present Mamata Banerjee-led government has started getting a few things right. “Till 2011, there was no single line of appreciation from the previous government. Now our CM has started award ceremonies like Khel Samman, Khel Gourab... It is not about the money, it is about recognition. Like the felicitation for Titas (Sadhu) earlier today, that will definitely push her to do well in the future.
“We have the talent. We are No 1 in the country. The government should take up individual sports because that is where all the medals are coming from.”
Talking about Bengal’s archery ecosystem, Dola said, “The state government has already started an archery academy in Jhargram. Mine and the next generation... there are a lot of gaps. Also, nationally, we are not getting any medals.”
“The number of academies has increased. When we started, we did not get so much support, but right now a lot of good work is happening at the grassroots level. The number of players not only in Bengal, but also in India has improved.”
Barua said sporting legends can help inspire an entire generation, “In every sport, you need icons to follow. Anand is a five-time World Champion. He is an inspiration for everybody.”
The Conclave was held in association with Hero We Care - a Hero Motocorp CSR Initiative, Indian Oil, Shiv-Naresh, Rau’s IAS Study Circle, Pinnacle Infotech, Maithan Alloys Ltd, Merlin Group, SRMB, Techno India Group’s Sister Nivedita University, Indian Bank and Meghbela Broadband.
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