Cricket to Olympic facts, this show's all about sports-Oct 12, 2010,

Cricket to Olympic facts, this show's all about sports

Avijit Ghosh, TNN, Oct 12, 2010, 01.19am IST






About 175 books only on sports are on display at Delhi Public Library.

NEW DELHI: Baron Pierre De Coubertin is generally regarded as the father of modern Olympics. His tireless efforts to create an Olympic movement, ultimately leading to the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, also had a philosophical premise.

The French educationist sincerely believed that if the nations of the world came together for sport on a common platform, it would significantly reduce the chances of military conflict among them. A collection of his essays outlining his ethical and social principles can be read in an 862-page book, Olympism, at an ongoing exhibition of books on sports at Delhi Public Library located just outside the Chandni Chowk Metro station.

The exhibition, on till October 11, is part of the CWG celebrations. About 175 books are on display, a majority in Hindi.

Cricket may be the most popular game in the country, but thankfully, most other games also find a place in the exhibition. For instance, Suresh Kumar Lau's book, Great Indian players, offers brief biographical sketches of about 500 sportsmen from 30 different games. All-time basketball greats such as Abbas Moontasir and Ajmer Singh, volleyballers who enjoyed international fame such as Jimmy George and Abdul Basith figure in it. Montu Debnath, the great gymnast of the 1960s, also finds a place in this invaluable but little-known book.

Another book that demands attention is Manoj Joshi's Bharat ke dus shirshasta pahelwan (India's top 10 wrestlers). At a time when wrestlers such Yogershwar Dutt, Narsingh Yadav, Ravinder Singh and Anil Kumar are winning gold medals for India in the ongoing XIX Commonwealth Games, it is also important to remember the former greats: Olympic bronze winner KD Jadhav to whom the book is dedicated, Udai Chand, who finished sixth in Mexico Olympics and Sudesh Kumar who finished fourth in Munich.

There are books on boxing, badminton, judo, karate, hockey, cricket, chess and table tennis too. Books on sports injuries, sports journalism, sports management, sports education and other auxiliary aspects of sports are also on show. Unfortunately, most of these books have been brought out by small local publishers and seldom find a place in upmarket bookstores.

A smaller section of the same exhibition is dedicated to 75-odd books on Delhi. Apart from the recent ones such as William Dalrymple's City of Djinns, this section also has several books of historical merit. One of the most interesting books on display is 1857 Delhi by Sir Henry W Norman and Mrs Keith Young carrying extracts from the correspondence and diary of Colonel Keith Young who served in the British Army during the 1857 revolt. First published in 1902, the book is not only a first-hand account of the Revolt but also provides insights into the social life of the times.


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