“Bhupathi and
Bopanna axed from Davis Cup” – read a newspaper story’s headline. The story
ended with the following paragraph:
The national body left out veteran Bhupathi
and big serving Bopanna from the squad to send out a message that any kind of
indiscipline will not be tolerated.
What
indiscipline is the reporter referring to? Is it the pre-Olympic Games
controversy? If that is so, isn’t the AITA acting a little too late?
Is Davis Cup
the time to penalize for what happened before the Olympics? The question is
important considering the fact that the same “indiscipline” was accommodated
for the Olympics medal hope. The AITA bent backwards to do anything for the
players.
The current
stance does not seem to be a penalty for the indiscipline, but more of a
punishment for the disastrous performance at the Games.
And that
brings an important question. Between indiscipline and underperformance, what
is more acceptable? Sports, or for that matter any individual skill-based
competitive activity, has many examples where just for the superior skills,
indiscipline is tolerated. People have turned a blind eye.
In the desire
to win, very often, the indiscipline is tolerated. However, let us look at the
impact it makes on minds of young children. The winners are looked up to as
role models. Kids, not able to differentiate between the efforts and skills
required to reach the top and the indiscipline or arrogance, assume that such
attitude is necessary and socially acceptable to be leaders in various fields.
Those, who are
successful in their respective fields, have a greater responsibility to really
be and act like role models. Else, the society may be full of brash, arrogant,
inconsiderate winners.
