Perfect saturday morning, got up late, with a cup of tea in my left hand, was glancing through the headlines of the newspaper. “Crisis looms for Indian sports if BCCI stays out of anti-dope pact ” was the headline that caught my attention. With my tea still unfinished, I hurriedly put down the cup on the table and held the newspaper with both hands. This to me was serious news. In a long time the paper had published a serious news apart from the usual “You first saw it here kind of headline.” Anyway, coming back to the headline, I was shocked to know that Indian sports was in danger of getting kicked out by the world anti-doping body. And the reason? Some egoistic Indian cricketers have refused to adhere to the rules of the World Anti Doping Agency. The WADA (world anti doping agency) rules say that all athletes should furnish details about their whereabouts of the future to WADA so that WADA can come in and conduct surprise tests anytime they want. For them to conduct surprise tests, they should know where the athletes are and that is why it is mandatory that athletes furnish details about their whereabouts for a one hour window. I know that is difficult to do, because you don’t know where you will be in the future. But with great fame and adulation comes great responsibility.
Global superstars who are ten times bigger in fame and earnings have agreed to it and have been furnishing details about themselves to WADA. Our own sports stars from other sports have agreed to the terms and conditions and have been furnishing details. Then who on earth are these cricketers to defy? What makes them special? The entire world’s sportsmen can adhere to it then why the hell can Indian cricketers not ? That is because they think they are bigger than the game, they are bigger than the country. I am not saying all of them, but the ones who are defying it. I mean, are you kidding me? If you are a professional sportsmen there are rules that you need to follow. Tomorrow the cricketers might say that they won’t adhere to traffic rules as they have a busy lifestyle and they need to commute fast.
It is time we the people of India stopped idolizing the cricketers and focus on sports and sports person that really need our help and support.
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