India's post-CWG period will be dominant: Sethi, Rasquinha

India's post-CWG period will be a dominant one, say sporting heroes Geet Sethi and Viren Rasquinha

Two stalwarts of Indian sport ufffd world billiards champ Geet Sethi and former hockey captain Viren Rasquinha ufffd reckon India's success at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games is the beginning of bigger and better things for Indian sport. The duo caught up with MiD DAY yesterday during the unveiling of memorabilia they donated to actor Rahul Bose's charity auction Equation.

"India's sports administrators can definitely cash in on a highly successful CWG. India becoming a dominant sports nation is a process.

"We can't just take one event forward. The fact that the media took so strongly to CWG helped athletes get a big boost of confidence. There is enough money coming in and I'm glad my peers (Indian athletes) are becoming brands now - that can only hold us in good stead. In the next five to 10 years, we will become a dominant sports nation and can outdo Australia," said Sethi.

Hockey hope
Rasquinha said he was not surprised to see an incredible turn-out for the CWG semi-final against England, and final against Australia.

"This was one of the best performances from our hockey side in a long time. This is our national sport after all and there are enough people who love hockey in our country.

"It is time to make use of the great infrastructure in place. There is no shame in losing to Australia because they have been averaging six goals every match this year. We still need to bridge the gap to consistently match top teams. The players need to play with more passion. We are playing modern style hockey these days; lots of positives to take. We need to put pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together and we can be back
at the top."

Backseat for cricket
Sethi said he was extremely satisfied to see cricket taking a backseat for a change during CWG. "All eyes were on the Games. I was so glad to see cricket getting pushed back. In hindsight, there shouldn't have been any cricket during CWG because it was about celebrating Indian sport and encouraging it. Despite the two happening simultaneously, cricket lost out on eyeballs and every household followed the CWG. I was so happy."

Meanwhile, Rasquinha felt: "There is enough space for every sport to exist in this country. I don't think cricket can ever hamper a big event."