Non-cricket Indian sportspersons deserve a lot more than what they get, opines Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag has stated that multi-sports extravaganza deserve more attention than cricket considering Indian athletes achieve great things at such events even though they don’t get due recognition. He further felt that cricketers forget to give their coaches enough credit unlike other sports.
Retired legendary cricketer Virender Sehwag at a book launch admitted that cricket gets more attention in the country than the other sports causing the athletes to be left in a poor condition relatively. Cricketers usually get paid high amounts of money at the top tiers whereas players in other fields sometimes even fail to get proper facilities, let alone sufficient rewards for their achievements.
"I always used to think Olympics and Commonwealth Games are bigger than cricket (events). I used to think that these athletes would have been looked after very well, that they would be getting good food, and nutrition along with physios and trainers," Sehwag was reported saying by TOI.
The 40-year-old got the opportunity to interview two athletes at the event talking to whom he realized the large gap that exists between cricket and other sports in the nation.
"But when I met and got to know them, I realised that whatever facilities we are getting, these guys are not even getting 10 or 20% of that. Despite that they are getting the medals. They deserve a lot more than what they get, because they are getting medals for India," he added.
Another aspect that the former opener highlighted was that coaches form an integral part of every sport including cricket, yet cricketers usually hog the limelight for themselves most of the time failing to recognize the contribution of their coaches.
"We cricketers do not credit our coaches as much as other sportsmen do, may be because when you start playing for the country, the cricketers forget their coaches because they don't get to meet and speak a lot but in other sports they need their coaches from the start till the end and the coaches also spend a lot of time," he concluded.