Indian media continues to be obsessed with cricket even a world gold label half marathon gets no coverage in the print media.
The 21st edition of the Gold Label Vedanta Half Marathon in Delhi saw an exciting innovation by the organizers that will go a long way in lifting Indian runners’ morale. After the golden age of athletics in the 70’s indian long distance running has finally come back, with many athletes breaking records, like Sawan Barwal breaking a 48-year-old record of Shivnath Singh not once but twice in the year.
Gulveer Singh showed versatility by breaking records from 1 mile to 25 km and hopes to make what I feel could be a sensational debut at the Valencia Marathon on Dec 6 this year. In their coverage, the organizers of the Vedanta Gold Label Half Marathon in Delhi decided to dedicate one feed to India’s elite men and women.
This is bound to have a huge impact and encourage all Indian runners, as their villages and families get to see their races, making them, and the entire villages or places they belong to, proud of them and inspiring others to take up running. This exposure in cricket has been one of the primary reasons they reached the top. For the last 20 years the tv production concentrated on the international athletes which they had to do for world athletics requirement of a gold label event.
This year, adding a second feed in Hindi was a step in the right direction. The winner in the women’s indian elite says my mother and my entire village were so excited to see me prominently covered in the half marathon yesterday. As it turned out all 3 podium winning women were from the state of Uttarakhand which for long we all felt could be the KENYA in india and we hope this will be the starting point of the running revolution there.
Meanwhile, the print media coverage and placement were very discouraging. One paper had a paragraph mentioning only the international winners, while another placed the coverage at the bottom, giving prominent pride of place to cricket stage matches. Surely the print media must realize a world-class event deserves more space, and also indian athletes need to be encouraged appropriately.
Looking forward to improvements in the print media, but a big part of the responsibility lies with the Hindi media dedicated to Indian athletes.
