Unheard, Sachin Tendulkar gives speech on Facebook

New Delhi: After cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar was not able to deliver his maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the Master Blaster delivered his speech on social media platform Facebook on Friday.

In his speech, the sports icon reiterated his desire to transform India from being a sport-loving nation to a sport-playing nation.

In the 15-minute video, he spoke of how fitness must be the primary priority of a young and developing India and how playing an active sport would help the nation achieve its fitness goal.

The cricket legend was scheduled to raise the issue of financial security for national level athletes in his maiden Rajya Sabha speech, which could not take place due to protests in the Upper House. “Financial security is often a challenge when any sportsperson decides to focus on sports alone as their career,” Tendulkar said.

“I am aware that the government, through its many institutions, employs sports-persons and supports them which we all appreciate. But we have many national, state and district level retired athletes who don’t have a proper job. While ensuring their financial stability, we must also keep their minds engaged. Their skills and passion for sports would be best utilized for coaching our future generations,” he said.

Tendulkar cited the examples of national level hockey player Nauri Mundu from Jharkhand, who doubles up as a teacher and works in the farm to make ends meet along with Sita Sahu, a medalist at the Special Olympics in Athens in 2011, who is selling golgappas to manage her life.