The true meaning of winning a team event
For the longest time, Indian sport has been the story of the Lone Ranger. A gifted individual rising to the top of their sport on their OWN. Without the support of the system. Rather inspite of the system. Through their own grit and determination. Creating the support they needed to excel through their own means. Which is why they were exceptions. Because there was no system to churn out champions regularly.
So whether it was Vishwanthan Anand. Or Prakash Padukone. Or Leander Paes. Or Geet Sethi.
Things have clearly changed now.
For me the biggest marker of that is success in team events.
First we won the Thomas Cup in Badminton. Even the women came very close to winning the Uber Cup. Unlike the Davis Cup where you can ride one superstar to victory ( Boris Becker doing it for Germany ), the Thomas and Uber Cup formats require a very strong team with multiple world class players. Even one weak link can be exploited by the opposition. We won because we had multiple world class players.
And now we have won the Chess Olympiad in both the OPEN and Women’s category. In the most emphatic manner with a team which is as precocious as they come. The Chess Olympiad also requires a strong lineup of top level grandmasters. In the men’s category we now possess the most golden of all golden generations. I will be very disappointed if we don’t have our guys regularly competing. for and winning all the top honours including the world championships for the next twenty years atleast.
And our teams have also shown that they know how to celebrate.
There is depth of talent in these sports. An assembly line which is churning out world class talent reasonably regularly. And the best part is that they know how to use their talent to WIN.
So while I rejoice in the glory of another team triumph ( the Chess Olympiad), I am also celebrating the nearing of the end of the Lone Ranger phase of Indian sport. We are producing more world class players. We are slowly building a system to produce world class players. Across multiple sports.
A team event victory is symbolic of so much more.
