It was a different kind of evening. “It’s a feel good party,” said Geet Sethi, once India’s most elegant wielder of a billiards cue. There was none of the glitter and glam quotient usually associated with events in which sports celebrities mingle. This party had more to do with raising funds for the great sporting cause of getting Indian sportspeople to achieve.
It was Geet’s concept that transformed into this great project known as the Olymic Gold Quest through which so many Indian sportspersons have been facilitated to perform above themselves.
From a modest start in launching Gagan Narang towards Olympic glory to having lent a shoulder to the efforts of over 100 sportsmen now, OGQ has done for Indian sport what several associations and federations have not managed despite their organisational clout, the vast amounts of money they raise and the technical sporting knowledge they bring through formal coaching systems. What seems to have driven OGQ is the pure spirit of sport rather than a formally defined enterprise.
An audience likely to loosen the purse strings listened in rapt attention as several sports people recounted how OGQ enhanced their quest to win medals for the country. But it wasn’t an easy journey to get to a level at which the not-for-profit organisation has so far managed to raise over '8 crores and supported over 100 athletes. This is quite an extraordinary tale of a few sportsmen coming together to help their tribe in a way they knew how because they experienced it themselves when they were fledglings in their own international careers.
Geet never tires of telling the tale of the Sydney Olympics in a city proud of its fantastic waterways as one of the most scenic harbour metropolises of the world. A harbour cruise is a must in any world class event in Sydney. And imagine Geet’s surprise that sports officials outnumbered sportsmen by about two to one on board that fun cruise ahead of the Games. This was reflective of Indian sport at its worst, as it was at the start of the millennium after decades of officialdom having enjoyed the reflected glory of sports people and having done precious little in making them achieve.
Today, OGQ has changed much of that by being a non-formal support body run professionally by sports people for athletes, helping them aim higher, go faster and get stronger to achieve more. The little tales that the achievers recounted of OGQ’s support in any kind of avenue, from serious injury management to finding the smallest ‘comfort’ things like favourite food or vital equipment repair at a crucial time, represented the bigger story of a positive support movement. Viren Rasquinha and his team provide the support on-site to carry forward the intent of a wholly voluntary effort for the glory of Indian sport.
If Gagan Narang, who as a youth was shooting balloons on the amusement stalls of the Marina beach in Chennai, brought Olympic medal glory, he had to thank, besides his own considerable shooting skills, the supporting hand of OGQ all along the way. We saw only Sarita Devi’s show of boorishness in returning a medal in pique, but OGQ has a lovely story to tell of her real heroism and how she fought with a broken bone in her hand and pummeled her South Korean opponent to pulp and yet lost because of the referee’s prejudice in favouring the host.
If by the end of an intense sporting evening, which was so informal with a grand dinner thrown in, many felt like taking their wallets out and committing themselves to the OGQ cause, they could be forgiven an indulgence they can probably well afford.
A host of sporting achievers, from Saina Nehwal to Gagan Narang will be pleased to endorse what a difference it made to their careers to have on standby an empathetic sports organisation, Cricket might have the money to buy support for its players. In the rest of the sporting world, it is the voluntary effort of endeavour that makes achievements so special. And OGQ is really special.
