Two weeks ago, when Australia’s opening batsman Phil Hughes tweeted about his dropping from the team, it became a talking point for two reasons. One, Hughes was reprimanded by the team management for “leaking” the news and, two, he joined a growing band of athletes getting active in the online world. Back home in India, however, the social networking bug is yet to bite our sportspersons.
Compared to other celebrities, especially those from Bollywood, sports stars are still lagging behind when it comes to being socially active in the virtual world. But there are some exceptions: Golfers Gaganjeet Singh Bhullar and Shiv Kapur, tennis stars Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj, badminton player Anup Shridhar and India’s swim twins Sandeep Sejwal and Virdhawal Khade are pretty active on sites like Facebook and Twitter.
According to Bhullar, who is the flavour of the season on the green, says just like any other commoner, he uses social networking sites to connect with friends, family and acquaintances. “A busy schedule often makes it difficult to stay connected with people, and social networking allows me to do so,” he says.
Former hockey star Viren Rasquinha got hooked on social networking during his Indian School of Business (ISB) days. “It’s a great platform to interact with people as well as exchange information with others,” he says.
Ace shooter Gagan Narang is another athlete who visits these sites for recreational purposes. Narang, whose passion includes photography, uses these sites to upload his pictures to share them with friends. “I am not too active, but I do use them at times to let people know about my whereabouts,” says Narang.
Celebrity management firm Go Sports’ director Hakimuddin Habibullah says social networking allows athletes to interact with fans and get their feedback. Go Sports manages the likes of Bopanna, Khade and Sejwal.
Very often, says Habibullah, there are impostors posing as real stars, especially in case of cricketers, whereas not many of them are active on these sites. However, amongst the young crop, the likes of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan are there on Facebook. Besides Kohli and Dhawan, former cricketer Akash Chopra uses the site to share the articles that he writes for some publications and portals.
Twitter, which has become a rage among international athletes, still has to catch on in India. While the likes of cycling legend Lance Armstrong and former cricketer David Lloyd are extremely active on Twitter, there are very few Indian stars tweeting out there.
Bhullar says he is pretty active on Facebook and tries to log on to it daily but often his busy schedule doesn’t allow him to do so: A reason why he isn’t on Twitter.
Among all the social networking mediums, blogging is the least popular. Though during the Indian Premier League cricketers like Harbhajan Singh blogged frequently, that was more because of marketing tie-ups. Unlike Bollywood stars, cricketers do not have any active blogs running. “Blogs are a nice way to promote yourself, and sports stars don’t need that as compared to film personalities,” says Habibullah.
