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Still shining
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Long-term commitment is the need of the hour, feels Shiny Wilson
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Dedicated to sport Shiny Wilson
For all her achievements at the highest level, Shiny Wilson remains modest. The super athlete feels that the onus is on the players to make a mark at the international level. “When I, Usha and others were in the circuit, there was not much of
exposure or support from the Government. Now a days, the Sports Authority of India and the Government of India have come out with comprehensive training programmes and also send them abroad for special training,” she said in an informal chat.
Attitude problem
“But the biggest problem seems to be the attitude of some of the modern day athletes. They have to dedicate themselves to a different level to be successful. You cannot achieve success overnight. There has to be a long-term commitment,” she remarked. She said that she won an Asian gold after being blessed with a baby. “Such was our passion for the sport,” she added.
And Shiny Wilson, the Deputy General Manager in the Food Corporation of India, also said that the bane of Indian athletics is the fact that there are not too many athletes around who can be looked up. “During our time, we had at least 16 quality athletes vying for slots in the 400 m event. The number of talented athletes is drastically decreasing over a period of time. And where are the athletes even in Universities. This is a sad trend. May be because athletics is not as glamorous a sport as cricket or tennis,” she said.
Commenting on the chances in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Shiny makes it clear that India’s prospects are confined to discus, relay and long jump but only if Anju Bobby George comes up with a special performance as she promised “to me sometime back.”
However, Shiny doesn’t believe that the Athletic Federation of India had not done the homework for the Beijing Olympics after the 2004 Athens Games. “They did identify a group of athletes who should be medal hopes in Beijing and have been organising long-term training camps too. But winning the Olympic medal is still a huge task and not that easy,” she opined.
V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Mangalore
Puducherry
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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