Sports has different purposes and meaning. It has been part of our lives for a very long time. A playing arena could be a place where people learn how to show dominance by following rules. Some win some loose, players built sportsmanship and also learn a lot about life. Games are also played for recreational purposes, releasing stress or to stay fit.
People talk about the multitude of positive traits that sports are associated with. However, one must be informed about the abundance of issues that sports face, issues that keep sports from being what we want it to be, free from malicious intent and along the lines of collaboration perpetuated by authentic equality.
In India sports is not considered a preferable career option but hopes from players are always high. These hopes are without reward in less popular games. The difficulties faced by players is deep-rooted into the inequalities that encompasses almost every sports.
In this paper I will be focusing on Indian Taekwondo athletes and the challenges they face due to inequality in participation and opportunity. Taekwondo is a combat sport most of the female athletes are advised to switch over to some other sport due to various reasons. Male athletes who practice for years and dedicate themselves to the sport are also pressurised from family to get jobs. In every sport though thousands of players participate only few become famous.
In Taekwondo, other than the gender divide there are other social inequalities which influence the athletes capacity to engage in it. With many players coming from middle class or lower middle-class families, spending money to participate in championships or finding sponsors becomes an extremely difficult task.
In this paper I will thus be looking at these inequalities and suggest ways to proclaim our love for the game.
