Today's Kids Are Blessed With Opportunities To Shine In Sports

If there are 13-year-olds and 14-year-olds smashing players double or triple their age in competitive sports at the highest levels—like Vaibhav Suryavanshi, a 14-year-old boy who massacred world's fearsome pacers and wily spinners in an IPL match—it is thanks to the change in the attitude of the parents, and the availability of opportunities for the kids to showcase their talent.

- LAKSHMANA VENKAT KUCHI

Which was not the case, say some 20 or 30 or 40 years ago, when a lad called Prakash Padukone was struggling to make a place under the sun for himself in the world of badminton. The living legend told The Statesman that in earlier times, the parents' focus would be more on education and career. "Talent was there, then too, in sports and in every other aspect of life too. But clearly there were not too many opportunities, and especially in smaller towns and villages," Padukone said, warming up to the subject of "Boys thrashing Men" in sports, in cricket and in many other sports too in India. "Talent was always there, even forty or fifty years ago. But I think people in smaller towns and cities never had the opportunity to showcase their talents. But now, more so in the last eight to ten years, there is better infrastructure, better coaching facilities, better opportunities, and more sports scholarships. And also now smaller towns have become hubs of sports activities, not just in tier 2 or tier 3 cities but in tier 3 and tier 4 towns too are boasting of good facilities. Now, the kids are getting more platforms to showcase their talent," the badminton icon said.