Virendra's Blog

NDTV was asking certain Indian biz champs as to why they all are willing to dole out so much money on failing Indian cricket team (India had not won the T20 world cup then) but are not willing to give even small sponsorship to other sports like football or athletics.
Rahul Bajaj said a wonderful thing then – A businessman sponsors somebody only when he is sure to get favourable returns. Let India win a football tournament or athletics medal in Olympics and industry will follow. But there needs to be some “hero” to begin with, somebody with no backing and yet be able to do well.
Finally Sunil Kumar and Vijender Kumar have decided to be to be those hero. Coming from background where people struggle to survive, they gave India a space in Olympic medal list. All this without a Mittal scholarship or Hero Honda advertisement.
Before you start throwing brickbats at me, I fully appreciate Abhinav Bindra for his effort. But he had backing of an industrialist father and several crore rupees. He had nothing to lose. But for these two guys this was perhaps the only chance they would have got and they did well.
Kudos to Sunil/Vijender, they strengthen my belief in resolve of the Indian rustics! This truly was the medal India needed. Waiting for Delhi Commonwealth and London Olympics now 😉