Athletes in Asian Games are bigger achievers than the cricketers: Gautam Gambhir

The 18th Asian Games got underway a couple of weeks after the Test series between India and England began. But the cricket fanatics didn’t bother much about it and hoped that their cricket team will bring laurels to the country. Any other sport is not given much importance in front of cricket in India but the athletes never cared much as they kept fighting the odds and put their best foot forward due to which Gautam Gambhir feels that they are the biggest achievers than the cricketers.

India returned with their best ever performance from the Asian Games this time around. They bagged a total of 69 medals, four more than the last edition, in which 15 were Gold to go with 24 and 30 Silver and Bronze medals. India finished at the eighth position and fared much better than the previous editions. Gambhir highlighted the tough times which the athletes go through and the amount of hard work they put in when the tide is against them and saluted them for their efforts.

They are the real heroes

“It has been fabulous, absolutely fascinating. Look at Swapna Barman’s story. This is what creates heroes. I have always been a believer that cricketers are put on a pedestal because cricket is the most popular sport in the country. But there are some absolute, real heroes in other sports as well.

“Look at what our athletes have done, look at what your badminton players have done, look at what your shooters have done. They have worked equally hard. There are many more heroes (in non-cricket sports) as compared to what you create in cricket in India. These are the actual heroes,” Gambhir said in an interview to the Times of India.

On the other hand, Team India lost the series in England and shelved the best possible chance to win the series in the country after more than a decade.

[interaction id=”5b8e4535d6d3b00071e74858″]

Keep following CricTracker for more news and updates.